The Tale of Obsession Part 2 : The Winds of Change
by RedQueenofJokes
Summary: Harley has abandoned her life as a regular citizen and helped the most notorious criminal in Gotham escape Arkham Asylum. She has joined him in his exciting life as a run away convict by becoming Harley Quinn. But when things are not what she expected them to be, Harley must again choose her own path and decide if she wants to stay with The Joker or choose to go her own way.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone! I'm so excited to finally get started with part 2 of my story. I hope you all love this part as much as I love writing it. It took me a little while trying to think of a way to transition from part 1 to part 2 but I hope you like it. Enjoy like always and don't forget to review and tell me what you think. I love getting your comments because it always brings up my spirits and keeps me inspired to continue writing. Thank you and enjoy :)  
 **Disclaimer: I do not own any DC characters or references in this story. They belong to Dc comics**  
The Tale of Obsession Part 2: The Winds of Change  
Chapter 1: Training  
"That's not fair!" Harley stomped around inside the Joker's office. It's been a few weeks since Harley had broken him out of Arkham Asylum and had abandoned her old life to spend the rest of her days with the man she unexpectedly fell in love with.

The Joker sat in his huge throne- like chair that made him appear menacing and powerful. He was wearing a new plum purple suit with a green vest that perfectly matched his forest green hair that was freshly cut and gently tousled to one side, giving it a sort of hipster feel to it. Looking like that, it was easy to see why Harley had fallen for him, even with the clown make up and murderous attitude.  
"What's not fair pumpkin?" He asked while he looked up from the bunch of papers he was reading at his desk. He was still not used to having Harley around, but especially not used to seeing her so out of character. But this little tantrum was amusing to him.  
"This!" Harley pointed down at her. "I hate being caged in here! It's not fair that you get to go out and organize crimes and all of those shenanigans while I am here basically a prisoner not being of any help or even getting some fresh air. I am going crazy in here" Harley finished her rant with a long frustrated sigh.  
"Welcome to the club. We're all mad here" he laughed at her little girl tantrum.  
"I want to go out! I thought I was going to have a life full of excitement while being on the run but what I am actually doing is rotting away in that bedroom" she gestured towards the door  
"We've been over this already. The answer remains the same: NO" he said and looked down picking up where he left off in his reading.  
"That's not fair!" Harley let out another frustrated sigh  
"Life isn't fair my love" he answered without looking up  
"At least give me a reason why I can't at least train with the rest of the henchmen!" Harley demanded and stepped closer to him. This small challenging move finally made him switch his attention back to her.  
"It's simple: it's too dangerous. And plus you have zero experience" he simply pointed out  
Harley was about to open her mouth to complain some more when a quick knock interrupted Harley's rant.  
"Come in" The Joker quickly ordered and immediately the door swung open revealing Riley standing outside.  
"Hey boss, Carla is here to see you. Should I bring her in?" Riley asked and nodded towards Harley to say hello.  
"Yea bring her in" the Joker said in a more serious tone that Harley immediately recognized as his business voice.  
Harley had never met this woman and had no idea what type of business she wanted with the Joker.  
A few seconds later Riley was back, but this time he was not alone. A young beautiful woman trailed close behind him. She was fair skinned with long flowing black hair that went down to her waist. Her face was heavily caked with makeup and Harley could tell that she used contour to alter her face. She had a perfect fit figure that resembled an acoustic guitar. Her creamy white skin had literally no imperfections from her well-groomed eyebrows and huge chocolate brown eyes to her full rosy lips. She was wearing a Mayan blue mini dress that accented all of her curves. And on her feet were the highest pair of black heels Harley had ever seen. It took one glance at her for Harley to figure out what she was there for; she was the person in charge of the prostitution ring. Although her job didn't define her, her looks filled Harley up with a wave of jealousy.  
"Hello Carla. Please sit" the Joker stood up and gestured the seat in front of him and gestured for Riley to leave.  
"Hey there" Carla took a seat and seductively crossed her legs. This little gesture engulfed Harley in another painful wave of jealousy.  
"Harley please" the Joker gestured for her to get out and Carla turned to give her a playful smirk that made Harley want to rip out her throat.  
"What am I supposed to do then" Harley tried to hide the fact that she was hurt by the way he was blowing her off.  
"I don't know ask Riley to help you" the Joker went over to the door to push her out and slammed the door behind her.  
"What the fuck man!" Harley shouted at the closed door  
"I know he can be a little rough" Riley shot her a comforting smile. Harley was started as she hadn't seen him standing there.  
"Shit Riley! Don't do that! Warn me before you appear out of thin air!" Harley jumped back a little and he began to laugh.  
"Sorry Harley. So what do you need help with" he crossed his arms.  
"I don't know! I was telling your boss that I want to go out, help out and get trained. But he said no because it's 'too dangerous" she rolled her eyes and used her hands to gesture the air quotes.  
"Don't forget that he hasn't been seen outside. He's planning a big heist soon to expose himself and show Gotham and the bat that he is back in business. So he probably doesn't want you making a stupid mistake and ruining everything." He explained with the hopes of calming her down  
"But I can help! I know I can! And if he uses me we would even have the element of surprise! The GCPD thinks he kidnapped me when he escaped but what they don't know is that I have followed his path and have become Harley Quinn! It would throw them off their game and then we could strike! It's a flawless plan if you ask me" Harley proudly smiled at her plan and waited for Riley's response. When he began to nod in an impressed manner, it just confirmed Harley's belief that she would make a valuable asset to the team.  
"Damn that actually pretty smart… Have you explained this to him?" Riley asked still feeling very impressed at the former doctor's plan.  
"I tried. But he never wants to listen." Harley sighed again, feeling a bit defeated. "He's right though, I have no training. I do understand that I don't know how to fight but I can learn. Riley stood quietly for s few seconds before his whole complexion brightened up when he thought of a great idea.  
"The boss said that I have to help you, right?" He smiled while excitement began to show up all over his face.  
"Yea, so?" Harley grew suspicious of the young henchman in front of her and watched his carefully.  
"So that's exactly what I am going to do. I'll help you get trained." Riley smiled and waited for her reaction.  
"You would do that!?" Harley could not contain her excitement and Riley nodded. Without a second to lose, he pulled Harley down the hallway.  
"Where are we going" Harley asked, suddenly second guessing the idea as Riley kept pulling her down the dark set of stairs.  
"You'll see" Riley smiled widely that reminded Harley of the Joker's smile. She got an eerie feeling down by the pit of her stomach as she realized where he was taking her.  
"I'm not allowed down there!" Harley immediately yanked her arm away from him.  
"You aren't allowed down to the basement?" Riley snickered and shook his head in amusement.  
"That is why he told me" Harley furrowed her eyebrows and disliked the way he mocked her.  
"That is exactly why he won't train you!" Riley playfully smacked her arm  
"What do you mean?" Harley flinched back at his reaction and has no idea what he was talking about now.  
"Im not going to get into details now but when I wanted to join the gang, he refused. I had to sneak in and keep demanding to be given a chance. The point is that even though I was deliberately disobeying his strict orders, he let me stay because I showed determination and didn't give up. I worked for what I wanted. Listen, he probably wants you to get trained but is waiting for you to show him that you truly want it." Riley explained and began pulling her along, and this time Harley did not complain. 

_It does make sense… Im going to risk it and just go for it, even if it gets me in trouble_.- Harley inwardly cringed at the thought of him getting mad at her… there was no way in telling what would happen if the Joker got mad.

"Ok we are here" Riley pulled Harley to a stop in front of a huge metal door.  
"Where exactly are we?" Harley watched the door skeptically, unsure what was waiting for her behind the door.  
"Harley, welcome to The Vault" Riley opened the door and welcomed Harley to their training room.  
"Whoa…" Harley was out of words as she took in the scenery in front of her. She stepped into the huge underground room that was filled with equipment. There was a fighting rink where some henchmen were lined up to get into the action. There was a shooting range at the far end of The Vault and was surrounded by soundproof glass so all their practice could not be heard from the outside. She let her eyes wonder and saw the different training stations. She was truly impressed as the training room was bigger than she had imagined, going up to three stories. In every floor there were multiple balconies overlooking the physical combat area where anyone could lean over and spectate the fighting below. Then Harley shifted her eyes back to the ground floor and saw something that immediately caught her eye. It was a small corner full of gymnastics equipment: mats, bars, rings trampolines….

"What do you use this for" Harley asked unsure why the Joker would need gymnastic training for his henchman.  
"Acrobatics… We sometimes plan out heist escapes through the rooftops and it's important that we know how to soar through the air and look cool." Riley laughed and walked away letting Harley roam around the place. She was so impressed at how much equipment and training he made sure all his workers received before going out on the job. She began to walk around and had not realized that the majority of the henchmen were now watching her. They, just like their boss, were still not used to seeing Harley around, and some were unhappy with her presence.

"What are you doing here!" a henchman walked up behind her and violently spun her around. He was way taller than Harley with dark tan skin and a thick layer of curly hair on top of his head. It took one glance for Harley to realize how much this man trained because as she quickly looked him over, she came into realization that one of his thighs was literally bigger than her head. Even though his size was incredibly intimidating, Harley did not let him bring out fear in her  
"I live here" Harley stepped back and answer flatly.  
"That's not what I mean!" The man grew angrier at the young woman "You don't deserve to get trained with us" he stated and aggressively glared at Harley.  
"And why is that?" Harley shot him a questioning look that showed how she was not scared of this man.  
"Two simple reasons" he began counting with his hands "1) you are a girl. We don't have females on our team: Its henchmen not Hench-People. And 2) because I will not allow the person who caused Harold's death! That's right everyone! This girl in front of us is the reason he is dead. The reason he was injured and Mateo had to pull the trigger." He started to shout and soon every pair of eyes fell on Harley who did not flinch back of look away from the man standing in front of her. She was not going to let them intimidate her and get in her way. 

"Can you calm the fuck down buddy" Harley rolled her eyes "I didn't kill your friend. I was just defending myself and he got hurt. It's not my fault he wasn't well trained and I definitely didn't order to have him killed. I didn't even know he was dead until right now. You are definitely throwing your anger at the wrong person" Harley put her hands on her hips and shot them all a warning look. The man wasn't listening to her and his judgement clouded over with anger. He stepped towards her and swung his hand backwards to propel a hard slap a cross her face.  
"You are not welcome here bitch" he said while Harley fell to the ground. 

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Riley immediately ran over to them and shoved the henchman away from Harley. "Tony stop! If you want to fight, do it in there" Riley pointed to the fighting rink and a few henchman began to cheer loudly as the idea left Riley's lips.  
"Fine. Get up little bitch and get ready to get the beating of a lifetime" Tony guffawed before proudly walking away with a small group of henchman that Harley assumed were his friends.  
"Come on Harley. Let's get you over there" Riley offered Harley a friendly hand which Harley took without hesitation.  
"Thank you." Harley took a deep breath while she began to comb through her golden hair with her fingers and pulled it back to a high ponytail.  
"I've seen you fight Harley… You are impressive. Remember when I tried to stab you?" Riley laughed lightly at the memory.  
"How could I forget?" Harley silently laughed at the memory before smiling at the young henchman in front of her and she realized that maybe Riley could be her friend, maybe the only one she had now. They began walking towards the mat where every henchman in the training room had gathered and was watching from the ground floor all the way up from the different balconies of the third floor of The Vault. As Harley walked towards the inevitable fight, everyone else parted to make a path that took Harley directly to Tony. Harley climbed the few stairs to get into the rink with Tony who carefully watched her every move. 

"Attention everyone!" Tony glared heavily at Harley and began to walk around her while he spoke. "It's time we taught this little slut a lesson." He pulled her arm and spun her around, showing her off to the rest of the henchman and forced Harley to face towards the door. "Look there's the door. I'm showing you mercy, because honestly that ass of yours is so damn good to get deformed with the beating I am about to give you. You can walk out of here, walk out of our lives and leave the Joker." He grabbed her chin while he pointed to the door. Harley pushed his nasty hands off her and her face tensed in anger. 

"I am not going anywhere" She said loudly and her voice echoed with confidence.  
"Aww she's brave" Tony bent forward as he roared with laughter. Everything that Tony was driving Harley to the edge of her patience and was slowly becoming angrier and angrier. All her attention was fixed to the fool in front of her and she ignored everyone else in the room. Driven by anger, Harley quickly walked over to the henchman and pulled him up by his hair.  
"You better shut the fuck up!" Harley yelled directly in his face and didn't hesitate to punch him in the face.  
"Oh hell no!" He stepped back and leaned back as his leg came up towards Harley's head in a powerful kick. Harley saw it coming and quickly ducked out of its way, barely being able to avoid it. As Harley crouched she spun her leg out, kicking Tony's base foot out of balance which made him smack down loudly on the mat.  
"I'm waiting Tony!" Harley teased and her voice rose up a few octaves, resembling that of a child's.  
"Get her Tony!" Someone shouted loudly at the man lying on the mat. This loud interruption threw off her concentration for a brief moment and didn't see when Tony stood up and was charging quickly towards her. He pushed her off the mat and she fell down the stairs. The hard fall into the concrete floor shot waves of pain throughout Harley's body as she attempted to stand up. She fell back down as she couldn't move past the pain and for a second she believed that she was not going to have the strength to stand up. Tony looked at her sloshing around on the floor like a fish out of water and couldn't help but laughing. Soon the rest of the henchmen were laughing, except for one. 

"Come on Harley! Get up and kick his ass!" Riley shouted at Harley from the sidelines.  
"No just give up!" Another henchman shouted and sent everyone in the room laughing again. All of this infuriated Harley and gave her strength to push past the pain and stand up. She slowly made her way back up to the rink and waited until everyone's laughed had faded to a halt.  
"Are you done now?" Harley asked Tony as she crossed her arms.  
"Lighten up! You are so boring. I don't even know why the Joker has kept you around for so long. If I were him, I would have killed you as soon as I was out Arkham's front doors." He laughed again and Harley couldn't contain herself any longer and began ran towards the man. She used all her strength to jump on his chest in order to throw him backwards a bit and almost made him fall down out of the mat. Harley softly landed back where he had been standing a few moments before. Tony waited a few seconds to regain his balance and ran towards Harley but she watched him carefully as she thought of something to do in order to avoid his next move. Tony ran closer to Harley who wasn't moving out of his way or doing anything to avoid getting hit again.  
"Harley watch out! Get out of his way!" Riley shouted but his voice was barely audible as the rest of the henchmen cheered loudly for Tony to end her.  
Harley waited for the perfect moment to counter strike his move. As soon as he was inches from hitting her, Harley slid down in between his legs and suddenly found herself behind him. This happened in a blink of an eye, so when tony blinked he was completely confused on where Harley had banished. Harley wasn't going to wait for him to turn around and attack her again. So she used all her force in her legs and kicked him directly in his back with her left leg and he stumbled forwards a few steps. She then used her right leg to kick him again having the same effect on him. Harley heavily disliked the man in front of her and was getting all her anger out. Using this anger, she quickly ran back to him and threw her body into a front areal flip and used her legs to kick him down to the ground. She walked backwards and waited for his move. Tony was completely thrown off by her as he did not expect such things from a tiny woman. He was losing. 

"I am not going to lose to a woman" Tony glared at Harley while he stood up.  
"Look buddy, this has been fun and all but how about a real challenge?" Harley laughed at her own snarky comment. Tony was not going to take this from anyone and as Harley was too busy laughing to notice him making his way towards her. He took advantage of this moment and punched her directly in the face, bringing Harley back to reality as she stumbled back a few steps. Harley began to feel a stinging pain on her lip and quickly put her fingers on the spot that stung the most. She flinched back as she realized that a small trail of blood was already running down her chin.

"Fuck" She cussed and ran over to Tony who was watching her with eyes wide with hatred. She knew that he wasn't going to take his eyes off her now so surprise attacks were out of the question now. She had no other choice than attack him face to face. She shoved him backwards and elbowed him in the face causing a satisfying cracking sound as her elbow collided with his nose. She smiled proudly as his nose became deformed and began to spill out blood.  
"You bitch!" He shouted angrily an gently began to wipe the blood out of his lips.  
"What are you going to do about that?" She challenged. He decided to end the fight… But he wasn't going to be the one who lost. He grabbed a small knife out of his pocket which he planned to use to cut her throat. He cautiously walked over to Harley as he tried to conceal the weapon in his hands.  
"Hey buddy… You are not slick at all. I can see what you have there" Harley rolled her eyes and quickly moved out of the way when Tony decided to run towards her and make use of the knife. Harley then pirouetted with her back leg extended completely behind her in order to kick the weapon out of Tony's hand where it landed a few feet from them and well out of anyone's reach. Harley then proceeded to kick him in the stomach and then quickly punched him in the face which managed to disorient him for a few seconds. Harley took advantage of the few seconds of confusion and grabbed his shoulders tightly and brought him close to her and used her knee to kick him directly in his balls. Harley stepped away and crossed her arms as the rest of the henchmen yelled out in one sympathetic cry. Tony groaned extremely loudly and it echoed across The Vault. He doubled over in pain and fell to defeat on the mat. The room roared in cheer for Harley as she shot her arm up in victory. Harley could not be any happier at that very moment as she knew that from now on no one would dare get in her way. 

"Well, well, well" Mateo came up from in between the crowd. Harley hadn't seen him earlier and realized that she must have missed his entry while she was fighting. "That was impressive jester girl." He playfully smiled down at Harley. "I guess I can speak for everyone when I say this was definitely unexpected! I though you would be a goner." He laughed but Harley didn't laugh along with him as she didn't trust him one bit. "There's still one question that remains unanswered thought" he walked closer to Harley and wiped some blood from her chin. "What are you doing down here? Last time I heard you were under strict orders to not come in here. Wouldn't it be a shame if the boss found out?" Mateo said in a dark tone.  
"Yes it would be a shame" Harley finally spoke up while her eyes narrowed in distrust which made Mateo grin widely.  
"You know, you could do me a favor and your lover won't ever hear about this. And you could come down here anytime you want to train and it would remain a secret" Mateo began pulled Harley's hair out of the ponytail in a seductive manner and he felt Harley tensed up as she realized what he meant by "do me a favor". She slapped his hand away and stepped away from him. 

"No thank you." Harley walked down the stairs and realized that everyone was still watching them.  
"That's too bad Harley. Well, as you have declined my offer, I have no other choice but to bring you to the Joker to get punished for disobeying his orders." Mateo grabbed Harley's arm tightly and pulled her along. "Let this be a lesson for you all: No one above the Joker's law. Everyone is equal and equally responsible for following orders. No get on with your business" Mateo said as he pulled Harley down by the door. He snapped his fingers and a nearby henchman opened the door for them. They walked back to the Joker's office in silence, mostly due to the awkward fact that he had tried to make a sexual offer to her even though she was with his boss.  
 _The nerve of some people_ \- Harley thought in complete disbelief at Mateo.  
As they approached the door they saw that Carla was just leaving with a handful of paperwork in her hand. She looked over to where Mateo and Harley were walking and immediately Mateo's eyes grew with desire for this woman. 

"Hey Carla" Mateo greeted her and slowly looked her over from head to toe. Carla flirtatiously smiled back at him and then shifted her eyes to Harley who was sweaty, bloody and badly bruised at the lip.  
"Oh lord!" Carla suppressed a laugh "Haven't you been a naughty girl?" She finally laughed at Harley before sashaying away.  
"Bitch" Harley muttered under her breath as Mateo shot one last glance at the departing woman and knocked on his boss's door.  
"What do you want" the Joker called from inside  
"It's me sir" Mateo walked in but left Harley standing outside. That was completely fine with her as she would rather face the Joker's anger later than sooner.  
"What do you want" the Joker repeated in a bored voice and raised an eyebrow at his worker.  
"I want you to see this!" Mateo excitedly put a finger up and swiftly made his way toward Harley.  
 _I am a dead woman_. – Harley sighed loudly. _Damn it! I knew I should have made a will_.

She was extremely nervous as she knew how unpredictable the Joker became when he was angry. She kept her eyes on the ground and her face low to hide it from the Joker's view as Mateo basically dragged her into the office.  
"What's wrong Harley?" The Joker was unsure of what exactly he as supposed to be looking for until Mateo gently grabbed her face and exposed the damage. Harley avoided eye contact with him and kept her eyes on the ground. 

"What the fuck happened to you?!" The Joker exclaimed in both surprised and anger and began to glare directly at Mateo.  
"I didn't do this sir. This was all her fault." Mateo let her go and stepped away "She was in The Vault" those words echoed in the small office and then followed silence. Harley could never handle silence and finally looked up at her beloved. To her surprise his face remained neither mad or disappointed, but she was unsure if this was a bad or worse thing.  
"I'm… I'm sorry" Harley managed to say as her deep blue eyes met his heavy green eyes.  
"Who beat you? I'll have him killed" he immediately assumed that she had lost the fight. The Joker gently placed his cold finger on top of her bruised lip but as soon as contact was made, Harley flinched back in pain.  
"Actually she's in good shape compared to the other guy" Mateo crossed his arms as he beamed with slight admiration.  
"Who was it?" The Joker demanded his name.  
"Tony" Harley said  
"The big guy?" He looked over at Mateo who simply nodded "She has skills. You should have seen her. She combined acrobatic skills with combat and the turnout was impressive. She could actually be of some use beside eye candy." Mateo recalled and Harley was surprised at how much admiration was coming out from his mouth.  
"Yes of course…" The Joker furrowed his eyebrow as he went deep into thought. "Harley were you trained for combat before?" He asked in sudden suspicion.  
"No. But I've been trained in gymnastics since I was a young girl." She answered his question and carefully watched him.  
"Hmm." Was all he said and the room grew quiet again. "Mateo please leave us, I need a moment with my girl" the Joker waved his hand and Mateo immediately went out the door, closing the door behind him.  
"Harley why are you scared?" He gently caressed her cheek before kissing her lightly, being careful not to hurt her lip again.  
"I thought you would be angry with me for disobeying you and going down to The Vault" she admitted and looked down again feeling ashamed.  
"But I'm not angry. That is exactly what I wanted from you. I wanted you to have initiative and show me that you are willing to do ANYTHING to get what you want. Because in a world as fucked up as the one we live in, that kind of thinking is perfect to lead you to success. And now you are ready" the Joker smiled gently and kisses her again.  
"You are going to let me train?!" Harley squealed with excitement  
"Yes. And if I feel that you are ready, I'm also letting you join us in our big exposure heist coming up." The Joker states in an excited voice and Harley began to jump around with bliss.  
"Thank you! I promise to be the best Hench-Woman you ever had! And the only one too haha" Harley was just so excited and pleased with his decision and it was shown all over her face.  
"No dear, you won't be a Hench-Woman. You will be above all those mediocre workers. You will be my little sidekick." He pinched her cheek and went to sit by his desk.  
"No fucking way!" Harley basically screamed and went to sit on his lap.  
"Thank you!" Harley kissed him with a passionate desire and even though her lip was in pain, she could not care less.  
"Anything for my pumpkin" he pulled away from the kiss and smiled. "We gotta find you a costume then, because you are definitely not going to show up to a heist in sweats and a crop top." He pointed out. Harley looked down at her outfit as she remembered that that is exactly what she was wearing at that very moment and laughed while she rolled her eyes.  
"Not slutty though" Harley pointed out her only condition for the costume.  
"Of course! I wouldn't want to show off things that are meant only for my eyes" The Joker looked at Harley and admired all her curves. He began to kiss her softly again and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Harley thought that he was going to pull away from the kiss as he always did, so it took Harley complete by surprise when he was the one sped up the kiss. Harley was pleased by his actions and didn't stop kissing him until she had almost run out of breath. She pulled away and lightly gasped as she took a couple breaths. The Joker wasn't ready to stop though so he moved down to kiss her neck slowly. This brought a wave of shivers down Harley's spine and moaned lightly. That little sound that escaped her lips threw him in for a loop and made him hungry for more.  
"Fuck Harley" he managed to say as he picked her up from his lap and carried her over to the nearby couch. He was about to climb on top of her when he remembered that the door was unlocked and went over to the door and locked in order to remain undisturbed.

Harley was curled up in bed with the Joker quietly sleeping next to her. They were in his room; a very classy and decorated with the best modern furniture money could buy. It was 11 pm and Harley was could not find sleep and had decided to watch some tv, which usually helped sleep find her. She flipped through some channels but there was nothing really interesting on so she settled on watching the GNR: Gotham News Reports. The preppy news anchor was reporting on how fright in the city had grown ever since the Joker's face. She watched her carefully and realized that even the reporter was shaken up by the fact that the Joker was free.  
 _Damn he's right. Watching their faces grow with fright is absolutely amusing_ \- she chuckled lightly and kept watching. 

"It is still unknown how The Clown Prince of crime AKA: The Joker and Poison Ivy managed to escape the same night. Arkham officials say that these two were not even friends." The scene cut to a press conference that was held by Bartholomew and a few board members and doctors, one which was Veronica. Harley's heart ached a bit to see her former best friend again but she immediately shook that feeling away. 

"Dr. Bartholomew!" One reporter shouted "How does the Joker keep escaping Arkham asylum, as it is supposedly the most guarded asylum in the nation?"  
"He's been outsmarting us. We always seem to be a step behind him." Bartholomew's face dropped down in disappointment. The image in the screen went back to the reporter that warned the viewers that according to the GCPD it is extremely unsafe for anyone to wander around the city at night and even with Batman out there, it wasn't enough to protect every single citizen from another Joker attack.  
"Now one last question remains: What has the Joker done with Dr. Harleen Quinzel? He was her patient and she has been reported as missing since the day of the Joker's escape." The picture on the screen changed again and now was showing a scene of the press conference but now questions directed at Dr. Veronica Vreeland. 

"Dr. Vreeland? What do you think happened to your best friend and colleague Dr. Quinzel?" Another reporter asked  
"That psychopath took her. There's no evidence yet, but there will be soon. He's taken her hostage before; I wouldn't be surprised if that is what happened to her now. Joker if you are watching this, I beg that you return Harley back to safety. I can pay any amount to have her back, but please bring her back safely." A few tears left her eyes and she let them roll down a bit before wiping them away as her eyes grew deep with sadness "And if you are watching this Harley I want you to know that we all miss you here and are eagerly awaiting your return. Please come home" Harley had to turn the TV off before she began to cry. She decided that it was a good time to go to sleep. She gently got inside the covers, careful not to wake the Joker up.

"Please come home". As her head hit the pillows, those last words lingered in the air as Harley drifted to sleep


	2. Chapter 2

Hey peeps! Here's chapter 2! Hope you like it n don't forget to leave a comment/review :)  
 **Disclaimer: I do not own any DC characters or references in this story. They belong to Dc comics**  
Chapter 2: The figure in the dark  
Harley stood on one edge of the mat and took a deep breath. It had been months since she had done any gymnastics, any acrobatics or any type of physical conditioning so it was expected that she would be a little rusty with her skills. What Harley did not expect was the uneasy feeling of nervousness right before she started to tumble. It was definitely out of character for her since she had worked past that fright when she was 8 years old and did not like the way those feelings were creeping back to her system as it only meant one thing: the nerves would throw her off and the skill would be a flop.  
Harley decided not to think about what could go wrong and took a deep breath. She had already performed all the other lower level skills and now she was finally faced with a challenge.  
"I'm not getting any younger here Harley" the Joker sighed from the other side of the room as he had been evaluating her skills. So far her skills had been impressive but hadn't showed anything too extravagant, so he wouldn't happy until she did something that truly took his breath away.  
"Sorry I have to mentally prepare myself" Harley simply explained without taking her eyes off the light blue mat. She finally broke into a run and as her arms planted themselves on the ground; her legs swung upwards throwing her body into a perfect front handspring. Harley used the momentum she had built up in the last skill and immediately sprung forward in a flip. Once her feet landed, Harley pivoted and went into a tight round off to prep her for a standing back handspring. Once on the ground she threw her body backwards and kept her legs tight for a nice layout that helped her land softly on the other side of the mat.  
"What do you think?" Harley was out of breath as she turned to see her lover.  
"Pretty good. You are quite impressive" he simply nodded and began to turn away as she hadn't captured his attention much.  
"Wait!" Harley called after him as she ran over to where he was  
"What Harley?" He answered in a semi annoyed tone.  
"What's wrong?" She asked as she stared directly into his eyes searching for any emotion that would explain why he suddenly had lost interest in her.  
"You aren't good enough" he simply said and Harley could see his eyes shifting shape a little and grow heavy with disappointment.  
"What do you mean? I've been training for about three weeks" Harley looked down and the defeat in her voice was clear.  
"We've had many acrobats come and go… But it's never enough." The joker looked away trying to avoid her confused stare. "You wanna know why they don't last? Because they are just like you and spend all your training time pretending this is gymnastics practice back at Gotham University, but it's not. It's time that you wake up Harley". The Joker snapped his gloved fingers in front of Harley's face. "You are here in this basement with me. You need to balance things out. Because one day you'll be faced in a fight with any of Batman's little sidekicks and backflips aren't going to save you. You have gotten lucky in small battles here and there but it's just not good enough." The Joker walked away from Harley who was now examining every single word he had thrown her way.  
 _He's right_ \- Harley placed her hands on her hips and decided to walk over to the fighting rink again. Many of the henchmen were probably thinking the same way as Harley and there was a long line waiting to get their hands on the action.  
"Fuck that" Harley shook her head and decided that maybe it was best to start small. She made her way over to a small corner that featured a few punching bags and one fighting dummy. There were only a few henchmen there and she was sure that they wouldn't mind her being there.  
 _I guess I can start here_ \- Harley picked one of the free bags and began punching. The bag was filled with sand and was hung front the ceiling. Harley hadn't expected them to be so heavy so when her bare hands first made contact with the bag, three of her fingers in her right hand cracked loudly almost and Harley felt that they almost broke  
"Motherfucker!" Harley whined in pain and began to shake her hand vigorously in hopes of getting rid of the pain.  
"Aren't you smart" Mateo sarcastically laughed as he walked over to where Harley was.  
"What are you doing here" Harley asked as she he led her hand tightly with her left one.  
"Same as you. Getting trained". He shrugged his shoulders and eyed her one more time. "Punching the bag like THAT" he gestured towards her and began laughing again "is not a good idea"  
"Yea I learned that" Harley rolled her eyes but couldn't help but laugh at her own misfortune. Mateo looked at his hands and began to take his knuckle wraps off his hands.  
"Umm what are you doing?" Harley shot him a confused look  
"Here" he offered the wraps in front of her face and she stared at him carefully, immediately mistrusting the gesture. "I have a new pair in my room."  
Harley was still staring at him unsure of what his motives were. Mateo then grabbed her hands and flipped them over in order to place the wraps gently in her hands. Harley was at a loss of words as she watched him walk away.  
"You know not everyone here hates you" Mateo said as he walked out of her sight.  
 _Well I'll just add that to the list of weird crap I've seen this month_ \- Harley shook her head and proceeded to put the wraps on her hands. It was a strange sensation when she punched the bag but it was definitely more comfortable. Even though the hits felt a bit unnatural, Harley kept punching and didn't stop. She could feel the burn going through her arms and back. The sweat freely rolled down her forehead into her cheeks. Harley's concentration was completely centered in the bag and her concentration blocked every other sound and every other henchman in The Vault so she hasn't seen when the Joker walked around once more and encountered Harley busy beating a bag full of sand.  
"That's what I like to see!" He clapped for her and she was so startled that she jumped back. "Yes! My pumpkin using her talents to their full potential!" The joker beamed with excitement because he was so pleased to see her following orders.  
"Then I'm happy I'm making you happy puddin!" Harley laughed lightly before punching the bag again. But this time it felt different. The Joker was just standing there staring at her with full interest and now Harley felt a little self-conscious. She began to punch without so much force as before  
"Aww come on! Don't mind me! Just go for it. Pretend I'm not here!" The joker suggested with a wide smile that Harley knew well.  
"Ok" Harley nodded and closed her eyes to regain her concentration. As soon as her mind began to slowly tune out every noise and figure surrounding her Harley slowly opened her eyes and ignored the rest of the world.  
 _It's only you and the bag_ \- Harley nodded to herself as the strengths hidden in her arms began to surface and each punch she threw was heavier than the last and the red bag just shook wildly with ever blow.  
"That is my girl!" He shouted so loudly that everyone's attention shifted to hers. Harley snapped back to reality when she could literally feel every pair of eye on her. Some had a pleased and even proud look in their faces, but not all of the workers accepted her. Some henchmen couldn't help but feel a bit of jealousy that burned heavily in their eyes  
"Thanks pudding" Harley smiled and blew him a little kiss. They both laughed at her childish gesture.  
"Anyway! He turned around to face the rest of his workers "I've seen enough of you today. I'll be watching you all closely and I'll announce who will be working directly with me in our next heist. Whoever I pick will of course get higher pay if we are successful. But everyone will take part in the heist. Some directly beside me and some working on the sidelines. Now back to whatever you were doing." He waved his hand in dismissal and The Vault grew loud once again as the joker began to walk away out of the room. As soon as he was gone, one jealous henchman angrily approached Harley.  
"I would really appreciate it if you would stop being such a kiss ass towards the boss. It's disgusting. I've been working for him for years now and he hasn't noticed me once in any of those years…and now a little bitch is going to come in and steal all the attention. That's bull shit….." He began to rant while Harley rolled her eyes inwardly.  
 _Why do they all hate me! -_ She thought angrily as she was tuning him out but was still watching him intently. _Does he ever shut up? Guess I have to remind everyone that I'm not just a little weak girl that they can push around when they want_. – She took a deep breath and with her good leg gave him a good heavy kick to the chest that threw him backwards and made his body slam loudly into the wall. Everyone turned towards the loud noise and the whole room turned silent as they watched their fellow henchman slide down to the ground as his now loyal painful groans echoed through the place.  
"I have no time for your little speech ok? I'm not going to fight every single one of you that hate me but if you push me you will get the worst from me. Just ask Tony" Harley rolled her eyes and stormed out of The Vault as the other henchmen followed her with their eyes.  
"He asked for it" Riley shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the weights he was lifting. And it seemed that the rest of the Joker's gang agreed with him in this matter as they all nodded and went back to their own business.

"Give me some answers!" Bruce slammed a heavy fist down on the large wooden table inside the Batcave.  
"I told you Bruce, I don't know!" Dick crossed his arms as he slid further down the chair he was sitting on. Bruce shook his head in defeat and walked over to the huge computer control center and began to read the files the police had gathered on the case. Dick sat up and put his hands on the table while he thought of possible answers. Everyone as so focused on getting some answers, that they didn't notice Alfred entering the Batcave with a large platter full of food.  
"Master Bruce, please eat something and relax a bit" Alfred placed a small tray that contained a small portion of fried salmon in front of him. Bruce simply shook his head and ignored the food. Alfred hated to see him so worried and he couldn't help himself from offering his view on the case. "If the Joker had kidnapped Dr. Quinzel, he would have already made a spectacle of his accomplishments and even if the worst case scenario happened to be true… Then he would have exposed the body in order for the whole city look at her corpse and grow in fear of him once more. The reality is that he hasn't done anything. The joker has been too quiet" Alfred explained as he began to serve the rest of the family in the Batcave.  
"I guess you are right Alfred…like usual" Bruce sighed as he brought his tray over to where Dick and Damian were already digging into their food. They all ate in complete silence as they tried to figure out where Harley had disappeared to. Alfred stood near the entrance into the Batcave and worried heavily about the young doctor's safety.  
"I have a theory of what could have happened to Harley." Damian looked around and didn't continue until he saw his father's eyes grow with curiosity. "It's pretty clear that a Doctor can't just vanish in one night without leaving a trace or some clue to her whereabouts…" Damian began to explain his theory "I believe that Harley helped him escape…" Damian looked around to see their reactions.  
"But that makes no sense. Where are the motives?" Dick shook his head in disagreement.  
"I agree with Richard" Bruce nodded as he sided with Dick. "Last time I saw her, I had to convince her to help the Joker wake up from a coma. She hated him because he had just taken her best friend hostage and in an attempt to save her, Harley had become a hostage as well. I think it's unlikely that in just a few days she had a change of heart and escorted him out of Arkham."  
"And there is no evidence. All the cameras went out at one point in the night" Dick pointed out.  
"But that doesn't mean she didn't break him out!" Damian shook his head  
"It well could have been one of his workers that did the dirty work here" Dick crossed his arms and Bruce nodded again. Damian's theory had been shot down by them and he knew that they would not consider it.  
"Let's brainstorm ideas" Dick turned towards Bruce who simply nodded in agreement. Damian knew that he wasn't included in this discussion and quietly dismissed himself form the table and shoved his hands in his pockets while he walked away towards the door.  
"Master Damian, don't feel discouraged. I also believe that it was her who helped him. They might not believe in your theory now, but soon the truth will rise to the surface and they will see that you were always right" Alfred put a comforting hand on the young vigilante's shoulder.  
"I hope so. We better prepare because if I'm right… Then all hell is breaking loose real soon"

A soft knock echoed through Harley's room.  
"Who is it?" Harley called from the inside  
"It's Riley… The boss wants you in his office" the young henchman explained in a monotone voice that confused Harley. She quickly stood up and walked over to the door  
"For what?" Harley shot him a confused look as it was sort of late and she wasn't expecting to see him that night.  
"He didn't say. But he wants you there right away" Riley walked away and Harley had no choice but to follow him. Her room wasn't too far from the Jokers office and soon enough they were standing right outside the door.  
"She's here" Riley announced as Harley stepped into the office expecting to see her lover by himself so it took her by complete surprise when she was greeted by a strange man accompanying the Joker. He was a lean and sort of muscular man with tan skin and dark hair with a few violet strands in his hair that gave him an edgy look. He was wearing a black dress shirt and black jeans. Harley could definitely picture in some fashion magazine or walking on the runway.  
"Hello! You must be Harley! It's such a pleasure to meet you!" He stood in front of Harley before throwing an unexpected hug at Harley who was taken completely off guard.  
"Let me introduce you to a friend of mine. His name is Adam. He's a fashion designer for us criminal types. He's very talented and I've asked him to come over with a few costume ideas for you." The joker explained in a happy tone that amused Harley.  
"Thank you! I really appreciate everything you are doing for me!" Harley shot him a warm smile and her heart almost melted at how much the Joker loved her.  
"I mean it's the least he could do since you basically broke him out from the looney house" Adam laughed as he took a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk.  
"Sit Harley" the Joker commanded and she immediately obeyed taking a seat next to Adam.  
"So you said you had some ideas on what my costume might be like?" Harley turned to Adam and saw his eyes shine with excitement as he reached for his bag and pulled out a large sketchbook.  
"I didn't only bring some ideas, I had to put them into paper" Adam proudly laid the sketchbook flat in front of him and slowly slid it in front of her. Harley slowly took it and realized that the cover was titled with her name. She smiled at this detail and didn't hesitate to flip the pages looking through the different illustrations.  
"Holy shit!" Harley basically shouted at how good they were. They were just breathtaking and for some reason Harley couldn't imagine herself wearing them.  
"I know I am a genius" Adam beamed at his work  
"Pick one Harley." The joker smiles at her reaction and was having fun seeing her this excited.  
"This isn't going to be easy" Harley laughed and began to look through them, starting at each one of then intently.  
"They all center around one theme: jester." Adam explained as Harley began to see the resemblance in all of them, even though they were all different.  
" I heard a few of my guys calling you that behind your back and I thought it was a cute idea" the Joker explained and Harley nodded in approval.  
The first costume featured a model with long golden hair that was neatly pulled into two high pigtails, each dipped dyed in one of two colors that was prominent throughout the whole outfit: red and black. The model was wearing a tight leather black and red corset that exposed her midriff and featured skin tight leggings that had one of the legs colored in black and the other one in red. Harley imagined wearing all of that and felt self-conscious as she thought she would look like a cheap hooker. She shuddered a bit at the idea and flipped the page. The next drawing featured the same model with golden hair and the same pigtails. But this time the ends of the tails were wrapped in cloth, giving the hair a longer and thicker look, this time one pigtail was red and the other was dark blue. The model was wearing a black leather jacket with golden spike studs in the shoulders. Underneath the jacket was the smallest of white crop tops with the Jokers face painted on it. The pants were similar to the last drawing she had seen but this one had a garment around the right thigh that held a few knives and a gun. Harley really liked this one but was unsure about the crop top.  
 _I mean I love him… But I don't worship him_ \- Harley bit her lip and decided to move on.  
The next one was pretty simple. It was a half black half red skintight lycra body suit. The right long sleeve side was red and the left one was black. It was the same pattern in the legs, but reversed. The right leg was black whereas the left was red giving the whole costume a kind of checkered look. On Botha sides of the thighs were a set of three diamonds contrasting with the opposite color. This was definitely a lot different from the other ones since the golden hair was tightly concealed in a jester hood with two little hornlike ends which were the same two colors featured in the suit. And on the models feet were a pair of red and white boots that resembled those of Robin Hood. She flipped the page and realized that it was that was the last of the illustrations and now she had to make a choice.  
"This one" Harley pointed to the full jester outfit.  
"Are you sure?" Adam shot her a questioning look. "Mean I know I created it but still I would have chosen differently"  
"Yea I'm sure. I want to start out simple" Harley nodded and smiled.  
"You are completely different than Poison Ivy" Adam pointed out while he began to dig in his bag for a measuring tape.  
"You'll look amazing in that" the Joker shot her an approving smile. That compliment rushed Harley's emotions towards her cheeks and she could feel her face turning a slight shade of ruby.  
"Stand up please" he pulled the measuring tape out if his bag and stood up. Harley nodded and joined him.  
"How am I different than her?" Harley asked while she raised her eyebrow unsure of what Adam was trying to imply.  
"When I was making her latest costume she begged for less cloth and for a more scandalous look. I love the costume, obviously, but she's almost naked: wearing a green leotard that resembles her light green skin tone. Her hair is amazing though. It reminds me of fire." Adam began to babble on as he wrapped the tape aground her in different places and only stopping to take a few notes. Soon almost every inch of Harley's body had been measured.  
"Ok! That's a wrap then!" Adam walked over to his bag and put away his stuff.  
"Thank you Adam. You never fail me" the Joker stood up to shake his hand.  
"Of course not, I like to live. Anyways I'll come over when it's ready and I promise it will be ready before your next plan." Adam assured them both and began to walk towards the door.  
"By the way Harley, this outfit will make you seem sort of innocent. But that's not a bad thing since you can surprise them by being a complete badass like I know you can be." He grabbed the door handle but stopped before opening the door. "Oh also, when you make it to the news, make sure they get a good glance at you because you are going to look hot!" they both laughed and Harley shook her head as Adam walked out.  
"I can't even begin to explain how thankful I am" Harley smiled and kissed him gently.  
"Im going to look over some paper but you can stay here if you want. I won't take too long" The joker walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a large roll of blue prints.

 _Hmm he must still be planning the heist…-_ Harley nodded and went over to the couch and sat sideways on it, while she pulled her legs towards her chest and began to let her mind wander. She began to imagine everyone's faces when they realized that the joker's new sidekick was no other than her. She couldn't help but think of her mother and siblings and what they might think when they heard that she had decided to become a criminal.

 _She'll probably say that she knew I would always fail… fuck her._ Harley realized that what her mother thought was really irrelevant to her current situation as she hadn't made an effort to reach out to her in any way since the day she walked out of that house with Veronica.  
 _Oh, Ronnie_ …- Harley's heart ached with nostalgia as the sudden memory of her best friend penetrated her mind.  
 _I need to think of something else…-_ Harley frantically began to search her mind for a something that would take her mind of everything. Nothing seemed to be working because now that she had let the memory run free, it wasn't going anywhere and her every thought she could have at this point brought painful memories that she brought a huge wave of homesickness.

 _I need to get out of here_ \- Harley immediately stood up when she felt a heavy knot in her chest and her eyes were barely able to keep the tears from running down. She glanced over to where the Joker was and was thankful his back was facing her and he couldn't see the mental crisis she was having. She quietly walked towards the door and tried to silently sneak away in order to avoid any interrogation

"Wait! Where are you going?" he called after her and stopped her before she left the room.

"Back to my room" Harley fatly said after clearing her throat.  
"You don't want to sleep in my room tonight?" He finally turned around to face her.  
"Umm no" Harley looked down and before he had the chance to ask her any more questions, she quickly walked out  
"What the fuck?" The joker shook his head in complete confusion and turned back to his blueprints.

Harley's eyes couldn't contain her tears anymore and they finally ran freely down her cheeks. She began to run down the hall and almost bumped into a few henchmen who were also heading in for the night. She soon reached her room and slammed the door shut, and flopped faced down on her bed. She began to quietly sob and tried to block out all the good memories she had with her best friend.

"Maybe… this was a… mistake" Harley quietly muttered to herself. "I need to get out of here" Harley immediately stood up and walked out of her room.

Damian sat on top of his bed and looked out the window. His room was pretty simple having a large bed, wide flat screen Tv , a small mahogany desk and two large bookshelves that were filled to their limits with all types of different books. Usually Damian would sit back and and read one of these books before heading out as Robin with his father or falling asleep, but it seemed that Batman wasn't going out to patrol the city, so Damian's focus centered around Harley.

"I need to prove that I am right about her" Damian quietly spoke to himself and closed his eyes. He had no idea how he was supposed to prove it but he knew that he must do it… before it was too late as he wanted to avoid any type of civilian casualties. He threw his head back and listened to the sounds of the night. The manor was surrounded by a large forest that housed many nocturnal animals and a lot of the sounds he could hear echoed form it. As he listened closer, the clearer the sounds seemed to become. The soothing sounds of nature began to calm him down until suddenly an unnatural sound broke through the quiet peace. It was a loud ad powerful car engine that Damian recognized as the Batmobile.

"Great! Father went out without me" Damian sighed with extreme annoyance. He swung his legs around and walked over to the door. He slowly opened the door being careful not to bring any attention to him. The rest of the manor was dark as Alfred had gone to his room to wait for Bruce's return and as Damian walked past Richard's room, he realized the door was wide open and all the lights were off. Knowing his team too well, Damian came to the conclusion that if Richard had gone out then Barbara had most likely joined them. It seemed like the whole team was out searching for Harley and hadn't bothered to invite Damian.

 _Great! Everyone went out for patrol and they didn't bother to take me-_ Damian shook his head and his anger grew. _I am not going to wait here while the joker and Harley are out there planning who knows what…_ \- he angrily thought as he snuck past Alfred's room and made his way to his dad's office. He quietly shut the door and walked over to the bookshelf and silently pulled out a thick black book and opened it to reveal a hidden screen with numbers on it. Damian quickly typed in the number sequence he knew well. The bookshelf then split in two and slid on opposite directions, revealing the secret entrance to the Batcave. After quickly shutting the door behind him, Damian quietly paced towards the display case that housed everyone's costumes. It was no surprise that his fathers and Dick's costumes were missing.  
"I'll show them! They'll know better next time than to doubt me and leave me behind. They all think she's a victim here… But I have a feeling that she's not a victim at all" Damian clenched his jaw as he slid into his Robin costume. As he quickly fastened his black and yellow cape around his neck, he heard the door into the Batcave open.  
 _Oh crap_ \- Robin knew that sneaking out without Alfred noticing was going to be hard but never imagined that it would be nearly impossible. Alfred immediately spotted him and coolly walked over to him.  
"Master Damian, what are you doing out of bed at this hour?" Alfred crossed his arms  
"Umm I'm going out" Damian flatly announced and walked over to his motorcycle.  
"No you are not!" Alfred was quick to follow him "Does your father know that you will be joining him and Master Richard tonight?" He watched as Damian put his charcoal eye mask on and without a wasting another second roared his slick ninja bike to life. He pressed a button on the handlebars and soon the back exit of the Batcave slid open into the dark forest.  
"I'm not joining them tonight" Damian announced without glancing up at Alfred. He didn't wait for a response and quickly bolted forward outside the Batcave, leaving Alfred behind. He didn't look back as he knew that he was going to be in a heap of trouble anyway when he came home, so he might as well enjoy his little solo mission while it lasted.

Harley didn't know what to do. Her heart had finally begun to realize the severity of her actions. Everything was happening too fast and Harley wasn't keeping up.  
 _Shit! What do I do? -_ Harley knew that if she were to leave, she would be hunted down not only by the Joker and his countless henchmen but also by Batman and his sidekicks. She paced around the hallway for a few minutes with uncertainty digging into her stomach.  
 _What do I do? If I stay… Will I loose sense of who I am… Fuck, I think it's too late now… I need fresh air_ \- Harley began to feel another wave of panic crisis bubbling through the surface and she ran down the hallway where she was greeted by a set of dark metal stairs that led up and out. This was exactly what Harley needed: just a moment alone in the fresh air while she looked at the dark night.  
 _I'll think of something out there_ \- Harley nodded and slowly walked up the stairs that led to a door out into the roof. As she approached this door, Harley hoped and begged the heavens that it was unlocked because she didn't have a backup plan. Harley knew if she didn't come out from her prison she would go insane. Thankfully and strangely the door was left unlocked. Without any effort and Harley stepped into the cold of the night. The cool night air greeted her and she looked up at the cloudy sky.  
 _How have I missed these gray rain clouds_ \- Harley smiled and began to feel more relaxed. She closed her eyes and listened to the city's music of the night, which were mostly police sirens and other traffic sounds. She had taken these small details for granted and she felt more like a human now than all that time locked up in that warehouse. She heard a faint sound of thunder and soon rain came pouring down towards the ground. The cold sensation of the rain as it hit her face was just so calming that Harley had almost forgotten her troubles… Almost.  
"Harley what are you doing out here?" Riley came out from the same door she had just passed through just a few moments ago.  
"I was having a panic attack and needed fresh air." Harley looked at him through the rain but couldn't really see his face through all the water.  
"Why where you panicked?" Riley stepped closer to Harley so he could hear her more clearly.  
"I… Um I was feeling a bit homesick and if I hadn't come up here to loosen up that stress before I completely lost it and did something stupid" Harley confessed feeling weak for not being able to be stronger.  
"It's ok. We all go through that. It's pretty bad for the first month, we all think this was one huge mistake and we should go home to our friends and family who are probably worried sick about us. But I promise that it gets better from here." Riley shot Harley a smile that brought peace into her system.  
"How old are you?" Harley smiled back at her friend.  
"Just turned 14 a few weeks ago" he answered without any feeling in his voice and a distant look in his eyes.  
"You are extremely mature for your age" Harley nodded before closing her eyes again and feeling the rain touch her face again. They were both completely soaked now since Gotham always offered heavy rains.  
"How were you able to stay?" Harley finally broke the silence  
"We all need a reminder from time to time of why we decided to join in the first place. The majority of us have tattoos that remind us why this sacrifice is worth the trouble." He explained  
"You have a tattoo?" Harley raised an eyebrow and felt bad that this kid had to grow up too fast.  
"Yup" he nodded "You can get one if you want. I know a guy. It would be good to be reminded every day that payoff of these pains are worth the sacrifice." He shrugged a little and half smiled. The air around them grew colder and soon Riley began to shiver.  
"Let's get out of the rain before we catch colds" Harley said and Riley quickly nodded in agreement and began to lead the way back towards the door.  
"Thank you... I honestly don't know what I would have done if it wasn't for you brining me back to my senses. I love him and he loves me. All of these sacrifices are worth it. " Harley smiled. Riley simply nodded but then his face grew pale for a second as he stared at the roof of a taller building next to them. He thought he saw a figure watching them from above.  
"What's wrong" Harley turned back to see what Riley was staring at but couldn't see much through the darkness and the rain.  
"Never mind I thought I saw something" Riley blinked s few times and shook his head as he didn't see anything in the darkness.  
 _Probably my imagination_ \- Riley assured himself as they both disappeared back into the building.

Damian climbed on a few rooftops during his search for Harley but hadn't found any clue to her whereabouts. There hadn't been too much action that night, probably because Batman, Nightwing and Batgirl were patrolling the city. Nevertheless, he did encounter a few burglars and had beaten some sense to them. It was no big deal. He reached an old apartment building that overlooked the city and was a few stories higher than some of the other buildings next to it. He looked to his left and saw an abandoned warehouse next to him but there seemed to be no signs of life in there and since it wasn't strange to see abandoned buildings in Gotham, he didn't think much of it. He leaned forward and on the concrete railing of the roof and accidentally pressed a button from his green mid forearm length green gloves. He had activated his ear comm, which meant that now he could be tracked by the rest of his family.  
"Robin" a familiar voice in his ear com said. The voice startled him since he had forgotten that he had even put that in his ear.  
 _Damm habit_ \- Robin blamed his daily custom of wearing the earpiece that he hadn't noticed putting it on for that night

"Robin I know you can hear me" Batman interrupted his thoughts. He could hear the anger in his father's voice.  
"Batman" Robin flatly said in acknowledgement.  
"Why did you go out?" batman tried to keep his voice calm but he was cracking.  
"I told you I'm going to prove you wrong" Robin explained and sighed deeply  
"We got a signal" Batgirl announced through her communicator. It started him to hear her voice as he had forgotten that all the communicators were linked and everyone could hear what the others were speaking.  
"Stay there we are already on our way" Batman announced  
"Oh and you're in trouble" Nightwing added before Robin pressed the button again switching his communicator off.  
 _What should I do? Should I just leave and avoid them until tomorrow? Or should I just stay? Ugh and they already know my location so I have to think fast._ – Damian was desperately trying to find an answer and was slightly disappointed that he couldn't get any leads on Harley's location before the night was over.  
Suddenly a door in the warehouse swung open and Robin immediately tensed up and became ready to spring into combat if necessary. He crouched down and was through the rain, was barely able to make out a figure of a woman enjoying the rain. He stood from his crouch a bit to get a better look at the woman. He tried to focus but couldn't get a clear view. Suddenly the door opened again and the woman turned to see who it was. As she turned, Robin noticed that the woman had long blond hair that resembled Harley's. His heart immediately began to speed up at the great possibility that he had found her. Robin kept watching them and slowly got up from his crouching position to watch them carefully. He didn't recognize the guy who had joined her in the rain. Robin was slightly disappointed that his position where he was standing was just out of hearing range and couldn't interpret what they were saying.  
 _Batman should be here any second now and, I'm lucky enough, he'll see Harley and know that she hasn't been kidnapped but is actually now working for the clown_ \- Damian's excitement grew as the seconds stretched along. Soon the rain had gotten worse and the two people in the neighboring roof moved along. Robin moved from his position to get a better look to where they were going but suddenly had to crouch down again as he had exposed himself and the both figures turned in his direction. He stayed low for a few seconds and when he was about to stretch out to look at them one more time, but he was not alone anymore: Three silhouettes slowly approached him.  
"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" Batman asked as they quickly approached him.  
"I have a good reason for doing what I did tonight" Robin began to explain himself  
"I don't want to hear it" Batman began to walk away "Let's go home. Now" he commanded and Nightwing and Batgirl obeyed without hesitation. But Robin had a different idea.  
"No." Robin firmly announced "You will be interested in what I have to tell you"


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everyone! I'm going to start school again in 2 weeks so I'm going to try my best to write and post as much as I can before that, since school will be taking up most of my writing time :(. But anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter ^_^ thanks guys  
P. S : Some of you have requested through PM that I should include more story on Batman and his family so here's is one complete chapter that includes Batman, Nightwing, Robin and Batgirl. Let me know what you think. Thanks ^_^

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any DC characters or references in this story. They belong to Dc comics**  
Chapter 3: Too close

"What is it?" Batman's voice lowered with impatience as he waited for Robin to explain himself.  
"I saw her" Robin flatly said while he crossed his arms feeling quite proud with his investigation.  
"Who?" Nightwing stepped forward immediately and his voice raised a few octaves with sudden interest. Batgirl turned at his little outburst and she shot Nightwing a confused look.  
"Who else? I saw Harley" Robin was also taken a bit off by his sudden interest in the missing doctor.  
"Where?" Batman ignored Nightwing and spoke directly to his youngest son.  
"Where was the clown taking her?" Batgirl chipped in to the interrogation.  
"The thing is, she's not a hostage like you all believe" Robin briefly paused to take in everyone's expression before he moved on. "Harley roams as a free woman. I saw her come out of that building." He slowly leaned over the concrete and pointed at the building right underneath them.  
"I don't mean to be rude and interrupt your explanation" Barbara quickly apologized and waited a bit to continue with her remark. "That building is clearly abandoned"  
"No it's not! Harley is in there and she's with the Joker planning something!" Robin defended his theory  
"Did you hear her say that?" Nightwing asked in a challenging tone  
"Um no I was just of hearing range…" Robin was explaining but was rudely interrupted by his own father.  
"Robin, was I not clear earlier today when I said that your theory was heavily flawed and therefore not reliable?" He spoke with a calm buy firm voice "You don't have any proof that the person you thought you saw was actually the one we are frantically searching for. And you were conveniently just out of ear range. So you really have no solid case here." Batman shook his head and began walking away.  
"Wait! Please listen to me! She is in there plotting who knows what with THE JOKER, who let me remind you, is the biggest and most feared criminal in Gotham. He is someone who has caused the deaths of countless innocent citizens just to get what he wants. He is the richest criminal in the city, probably just as rich as us and who now terrorizes the whole town just for fun. With a criminal like him on the loose, I believe it's only necessary that we, as crime fighters and protectors of the innocent, take extra security measures to ensure the safety of everyone." Robin's anger could be seen clearly through that speech. He knew that the Joker was not someone one could take granted as he was unpredictable.  
"Yes I agree with you on that. But Harleen Quinzel is definitely not working for him." Batman shook his head in denial and turned to look over the abandoned warehouse. The eerie emptiness of that whole building only confirmed that Robin was wrong.  
"She hasn't been here" Batman turned to face his team once more.  
"I believe it's time to head back." Batgirl said and began to walk towards one edge of the roof.  
"Let's move this conversation to a safe place." Nightwing nodded and closely followed the red headed heroine down one wall of the building. Leaving only Batman and Robin in their own.  
"Look son, I know you strongly believe in this theory but the rest of the team can't afford to. It just has too many blind spots and too many contradictions. We can't risk ourselves for something that might not even be true. I hope you understand." Batman quickly spun, his cape fluttering loudly behind him.  
"No please! Believe me. I saw her with my own eyes. If you don't believe me then go see it for yourselves. Let's break into that warehouse and see with your own eyes the truth!" Robin insisted and planted his feet down on the ground.  
"I thought I made it clear that we were leaving. We are no longer discussing the matter. I suggest that you come with me now, if you want to avoid a heavier punishment." Batman waited until his son finally gave in and stomped away from the the edge of the roof.  
"I thought you trusted me" he angrily grunted as he walked past his father.  
"I do" he quietly said desperately trying to avoid the argument he was sure was about to happen.  
"I doubt it. No wonder Nightwing left and chose to be his own independent hero" Robin disappeared down the wall to join Nightwing and Batgirl who were waiting patiently for them. As Robin approached them he could sense something wasn't right. He could literally feel the tension that had built up between Nightwing and Batgirl. Judging from their body language, it sees that Batman and Robin were not the only ones arguing that night.  
 _They are at it again? Fighting during patrol…That's the third time this week. It seems that things between them aren't getting any better. In fact I believe that they are taking a turn for the worst…._ – Robin cautiously approached them as he didn't want to interrupt their little altercation. Robin didn't want to be part of any of that. As he awkwardly stood next to them he noticed that his father still hadn't joined them yet.  
 _That's strange…. I swear he was just behind me… -_ full of concern, he walked back to where the grappling hook rope was till dangling from the roof. Robin looked up and while briefly blinded by the falling rain, he could see that both the hook and the rope were still intact after Robin's use.  
 _That's strange… What is he still doing up there?-_ he took a few steps back to get a better look at the roof.  
"Hey what's wrong?" Batgirl gently placed her slender hands on his left shoulder and looked up to try and see what he was looking at. She had to squint her eyes to get a better picture but she didn't see anything out of the ordinary.  
"Where's Batman?" Nightwing decided to join them as a well but instead of looking up at the roof, he watched their surroundings.  
 _You never know when you are going to be ambushed while distracted. It's better to stay focused.-_ he assured himself as he looked over the dark and quiet street as it filled him with a little fright  
"What if a ghost lady appears right now in this very street" Nightwing asked as his imagination began to run wild as he pictured an unearthly apparition walking towards them.  
"Can you shut the hell up!" Batgirl scolded him as her nerves began to shot right up and her stomach did a flop.  
"What! It could happen!" Nightwing laughed at her frightened reaction "it's better to always be prepared for any situation even those that may seem impossible" he tried to sound both poetic and philosophical. Batgirl's face heated in anger and annoyance as she hated when Nightwing tried to sound intellectual  
 _He's just so irritating ugh_ \- she groaned inwardly buy made sure he saw her annoyance and she rudely rolled her eyes at him . Robin turned to see Nightwing's expression change from lightly amused to really pissed off in a second. He quickly backed up as he knew exactly what was going to happen next.  
"What the fuck is the matter with you!" Nightwing half shouted at the woman in front of him.  
"What's the matter with me?! You are the matter with me you idiot!" Batgirl didn't held back and answers him in the same amount of anger as he brought to the fight.  
"Call me an idiot one more time…" He snarled through gritted teeth.  
"Or what? Are you going to fight me? Please! As if you could hurt me!" She laughed at his attempt to sound intimidating.  
"Bitch" he muttered angrily under host breath.  
"Can you stop cussing?" She groaned before shaking her head in disapproval.  
"Or what?" He challenged as he opened his arms as a clear invitation for a fight. Batgirl angrily placed her hands on hid muscular chest and pushed him away from her.  
"Look, I don't want to fight you. But you can't keep cussing when there is a child around. It's not setting a good example for him. Don't you understand that he looks up to you?" She spoke severely with him hoping that he would man up and become the good model she knew he could be. But all her words stirred anger deep in his heart and he stopped listening to anything she was saying.  
"Can you shut the fuck up!" Nightwing said through clenched teeth as he tried his best to keep his anger under control.  
"Can you two shut it!" Robin raised his voice as he walked over to intervene. "Both of you need to save this argument for later. You are risking our exposure and not keeping watch!" He shook his head full of anger as both of them grew silent when they realized their younger partner was right.  
"Now we have to wait until father decides to bless us with his presence" Robin rolled his eyes as his patience was running thin.

... MEANWHILE….

Batman watched carefully to make sure his youngest son made it safely down to join Nightwing and Batgirl. He was in complete disbelief at Robin's strange behavior.  
 _What has gotten into him?-_ batman wondered and shook his head. _I understand that he believes in his theory… But it just doesn't make sense. I don't understand his behavior towards this. He usually obeys my orders without questioning my authority trusting that I know what is best for everyone_. – He shook his head, still trying to overcome the shock. After taking a deep breath he quickly paced over to the edge of the roof and with a swift swing of his legs, he stood tall on the concrete railing and closed his eyes. The rain had slowed almost to a stop and the cool night breeze refreshed his whole body while it picked his large black cape and threw it heroically behind him. He slowly opened his eyes and shifted his vision to the scene below him. But before he could do anything else, a sudden noise started him and his acute senses sprang into action. He grabbed the edge of his cape and threw it behind him in order to clear his pay back into the roof. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary; just the typical flatness with a few gas meters and electricity boxes but that was all.  
 _So where is that coming from?-_ he asked himself as he stood sole tent and held his breath in order to amplify his hearing. He couldn't exactly explain the sound at first, but then he came into the realization that the noise he was hearing was faint gunshots. Batman narrowed his eyes and decided to follow the noise in hope for answers to who and why was shooting. He found himself on the left side of the roof, where it oversaw the warehouse that batman himself had declared as abandoned just a few moments before.  
 _That can't be right-_ he shook his head in denial. _Either, I'm getting old and my hearing isn't what it used to be or there is someone in there shooting at something_ …- his breath cut off short in a choked gasp as he thought of a worse scenario. _Or shooting someone._  
Batman couldn't handle the idea of some poor innocent citizen getting brutality murdered by a cold hearted criminal while he was standing just a few meters away not doing anything to prevent it.  
 _No… Not on my watch-_ his thoughts were ringing with power and hunger for justice. Batman swung his legs up to the concrete railing and spread his cape wide with both arms as he was about to glide over to the neighboring building.  
"Aww leaving so soon my love?" a sweet voice called from behind him. Batman's body immediately tensed as he recognized the familiar voice. He let go of his cape and slowly turned to confirm his thoughts.  
"Catwoman" he greeted and walked over to the stunning woman staring close behind him. She stood patiently in her dark black body suit. Even though it covered everything it should be covered, the suit hugged every curve of her body to perfection. Batman glanced up at her head and briefly wondered what her hair looked like when it was out of the cap with fake cat ears that went all the way down to her cheekbones to create a mask that concealed her identity. Batman was truly out of words like he usually was when he laid eyes on her. Her cherry red lips spread into a pleased grin as she noticed the effect she was having on the hero in front of her.  
 _Get it together! She's a criminal. What if this is a trap… Her timing is too exact. It would make sense._ – Batman looked at her over once more and realized that her hands were weapon free and her whip was nearly tied around her waist. Hmm that probably means she's not here to fight.- he loosened up a bit while he reached her.  
"Where were you headed off to?" She asked as she slowly walked around him and got close to him. "And why weren't going to take me with you" she deductively whispered in a half purr as she stood closely behind him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a light hug.  
"What are you doing here?" Batman tried his hardest to contain his desire for her and tried to concentrate on figuring out how she had found him.  
"I was just doing my nightly routine of walking around Gotham to see what I came upon and I guess tonight is your lucky night." She walked around him again and slid her hands gently across his well- built chest and torso and grab tracing the dark outline of the black Batman symbol across his chest.  
"That still doesn't explain how you had to find our exact location" He took a quick step back and waited for a response.  
"Fine" she walked over to the edge of the roof and while she sat on the railing, she crossed her legs in an elegant manner. "Close your eyes and listen to the sounds of the night. Tell me what you hear" she instructed while she places her hands around her top leg. Batman immediately put his guard up as he didn't exactly trust the gorgeous woman in front of him.  
"Just do it" she instructed once more. Batman deeply sighed and even though he was reluctant to do so, he followed her instructions and closed her eyes.  
"Good" Catwoman smiled obviously pleased his obedience. "Now listen. What do you hear?" Batman did as he was told, but he couldn't hear anything else except the all too familiar sounds of guns going off.  
"Gunshots" he almost immediately answered and without another moment in the dark, he opened his eyes.  
"What? No." She was confused at his answer and decided to show him what she was listening to. Catwoman gently grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the side where his sidekicks were waiting. "Do you see that?" She pointed one slim finger down to them.  
"What about them?" Batman turned to look at her in complete confusion.  
"They are arguing. I could hear them from blocks away and they just lured me in. You think its gunshots that you are hearing but the only gunshots you are listening to are from all the shots fired from all the insults they're throwing at each other "she laughed at her own joke but Batman didn't join in, he simply pursed his lips.  
"I'm going to go before they lure in any more criminals." He said as he began to reach with one hand the concrete railing but that is when he noticed Catwoman still had his hand closely intertwined with hers.  
"Umm can you…" He was interrupted mid-sentence as Catwoman pulled him in and her soft lips met his. He froze as her lips began to dance around his.  
 _What do I do now?-_ he asked himself but his body began to answer for him and he slowly began to give in to the kiss.  
Suddenly a loud voice in Batman's ear broke the passion of the moment.  
"Batman? Can you hear me?" Nightwing's voice jumped around in his head, giving him a slight pain.  
"Ouch, yes Nightwing. Sorry, yes I hear you loud and clear." Batman answered as he pushes Catwoman off him.  
"Are you coming or not?" Nightwing asked, the annoyance in his voice was also loud and clear.  
"On my way" he answered and turned his communicator off. Batman turned over to the woman standing with him before skillfully jumping over the railing. While still in midair, he pulled his cape open and just glided down to the ground.  
"What took you so long?!" Robin snapped as the last bit of patience remaining in his body evaporated.  
" I was just making sure the warehouse was empty." Batman quickly explained as he ignored everyone else and began to walk towards where he had parked the Batmobile. The rest of the team quickly followed in silence behind him.  
"Robin we'll see you at the manor. We have your bikes location, so don't try anything funny" Batman instructed him as batgirl climbed in the pass anger seat and Nightwing took shotgun.  
"Fine" Robin quickly turned and his cape made a loud swish sound and it cut through the air.  
"Good thing I have autopilot" he spoke to himself as the Batmobile roared to life and soon sped away. Robin pressed a button on his belt and waited the few seconds it would take for his motorcycle to arrive.  
 _I really don't want to go home right now…. I can't begin to imagine how much trouble I am in_.- he thought to himself as a pit began to grow deep in his stomach. Then he had a thought that brought a little light into his situation. _At least I'm not the only one who's going to be in trouble tonight… I'm sure Barbara and Dick will get their share of punishments tonight._ – He smiled at the situation. Soon after his motorcycle arrived and Robin hesitated a little before deciding to just act mature and face his problems head on. As his bike jumped to a start, the sky cleared and the rain seized. He began driving back to the manor, and the furthest away he went from the city, the better the air seemed to be. The rain had left the forest around the manor smelling fresh and Damian seemed to be enjoying the faint smell of oak and wet dirt. He was enjoying the smell of nature so much that before he knew it he had reached the back doors that led into the Batcave. He saw the doors approach and he pressed a small button on his handlebars and the huge cave opened, briefly revealing the garage that contained other shipment and motor vehicles used by the rest of the Batfamily. As soon as the Damian made it to the cave, the doors shut behind him concealing their secret. He quickly parked his motorcycle next to Richards and looked over to where the Batmobile was usually parked to make sure that the rest of his family had made it home as well. And it was there, already parked in its usual spot.  
 _How did I ever expect my motorcycle to outrun the Batmobile_ \- he quietly chuckled and joined the rest of the family by the control center.  
"I'm home" he announced and noticed that everyone was sitting around the meeting table in complete silence.  
"Sit" Bruce said with a slow but firm tone that made Damian obey without a second to waste.  
"I'm disappointed in all of you." Bruce looked around the table and stopped to look at each and every single of them for a few seconds.  
"I'm sorry father but…" Damian tried to explain himself but immediately shut his mouth when Bruce shot him a terrifying glare that sent shivers down his back.  
"First of all Damian, you are never allow to go on patrol by yourself unless I know you are capable of doing so. But that time hasn't happened yet. And you know that very well. There's no excuse good enough for me to understand why you would ever disobey my strict orders." Bruce pursed his lips in unhappiness before continuing to yell at his youngest son.  
"It was very irresponsible of you to go out like that. What would you have done if you were ambushed by the joker and his gang? Do you want to end up like Jason?" His eyes watered a bit as the memory of his dead son laying in the ashes and remains of a warehouse that was destroyed thanks to multiple explosions caused by The Joker. He pointed to Jason's costume that was on display on one of the walls in the Batcave. "I do not want to display your costume like that. He went out to find his mother alone thinking he was strong and skilled enough to protect himself, and the Joker found him and beat him with a crowbar before blasting the whole damn building to ashes. Do you want that Damian? I will not allow that. Understood?" He shifted his eyes back to his son who had grown a little pale.  
"I'm sorry father… I didn't know…" He looked down and realized that maybe he had let his emotions get the best of him and maybe his father was right… He wasn't skilled enough.  
"I know you are. But in order to make sure you won't do it again, you will have to be punished. Damian, you are not allowed to come to patrol with us for two weeks. You are to stay here and train as Alfred watches over you and makes sure you don't sneak past him again. Am I clear?" Bruce watched him sternly and Damian nodded in silence as he avoided his father's eyes.  
"Good. You are dismissed." He gestured for his soon to leave the table as he now turned to face his older sidekicks. "Now about you two… What is going on?"  
"What do you mean Bruce?" Barbara pretended not to know what he was talking about.  
"Don't play dumb with me. You have been arguing nonstop for the past few weeks and it's getting in the way of our missions." Bruce explained and looked between them to see if his words were getting through.  
"Is it really?" Barbara played dumb again. This annoyed Dick and he couldn't help hailed from rolling his eyes.  
"Didn't Bruce tell you to stop playing dumb? Or are you not playing anymore?" Nightwing half laughed at his last rude comment but was quickly silenced by Batman's the attending gaze. He cleared his throat and ignored Richards comment.  
"It's becoming a risk to all of us. Do you know who found us tonight?" He asked both of them.  
"Well, judging by the red lipstick at the corner of your lips, I'm going to guess it's Catwoman." Nightwing shot a playful smirk to his father who simply flushed a little but was able to regain his composure in a brief moment.  
"She was able to follow the sound of your annoying arguments that apparently were echoing throughout the whole city. Imagine if it would have been someone not as friendly like Killer Croc or The Joker. What would have you guys done with your guards down?" Bruce sighed loudly in disapproval  
"It's the same situation with Damian. He's young so he will learn from this mistake, but I expect you to act different since you are experienced fighters. You guys are well trained and you both have the skill necessary to defend not only yourselves but also to defend the family. But these skills would only work in our favor if you are one hundred percent focused, whatever problems you have with each other needs to stay away when we are out running missions. Figure out how to coexist." And with that Bruce pushed his chair back so he could stand up from his chair.  
"I'm off to bed. This has drained all my energy, Barbara you are welcome to stay here at the manor tonight if you would like." Bruce nodded and quickly left them alone to talk things out. The awkward silence made the air so tense that anyone could cut through it with a knife.  
"So…" Dick began to talk but then was interrupted by Barbara.  
"Wait, let me go first... You have been completely rude to me for two weeks now just because I declined your marriage proposal. I told you I wasn't ready to tie the knot yet. I'm still too young to think about that. I want to do so many things, and visit so many places. I knew you wouldn't take it well at all but I never thought you would show me this side of you that I had no idea existed. I thought we could work past this because we really care for each other. I asked you to give me time, and I though you understood me. But I guess I was wrong. Now I think we need time apart. I know that's going to be hard because we are both tied to each other while we are Batgirl and Nightwing but outside of that, we can't be together anymore." Barbara stood up and left Dick sitting at the table by himself.  
"I hope you understand. Sorry" Barbara was barely able to mutter as she walked out the door.

"Whatever, your loss" Richard shook his head and looked away.

Catwoman stood tall on the roof of the building she and batman had been kissing on just a few moments ago and watched as the Batmobile sped away into the night.  
"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that" she slowly ran a finger across her lips as she tried to keep the memory of his lips imprinted into hers. She sighed in happiness and looked over to the building on the left took another deep breath, but this time it was a sigh full of relief.  
"That was close" she said as she ran from where she was standing and jumped over the barrier and when she was about to reach the ground, she tightly rolled into a ball that was able to break her fall. As soon as she was back in a standing position, she gently brushes the dirt of her clothes and began to walk towards the door. She reached out to the handle to check if it was unlocked. The door opened easily and Catwoman found herself inside the Joker's hideout, at least for the moment. She walked the familiar halls towards the Joker's office. She liked to come around this hour because the majority of the henchmen were either sleeping or too busy keeping watch to even notice her.  
 _I feel bad for Harley, being the only woman here must be hard. –_ She kept walking and was surprised when two figures came up from the darkness in front of her.  
 _Speak of the devil_ \- Catwoman smiles as she walked towards the small group of people and was able to immediately recognize one of the figures as none other than Harley.  
"Well look at you! You're changed so much since last time I saw you!" Catwoman ran towards Harley and took her in a tight hug.  
"Oh wow, um do I know you?" Harley felt startled and hugged the woman without holding back as she didn't want to be rude.  
"Just think back a little. It's alright if you can't clearly recognize me yet. You will in a bit." Catwoman turned towards Riley and smiled warmly at him.  
"Hey kid! How is everything here?" She asked in a very casual manner that made Harley assume that this woman came here often.  
"Pretty good. Just teaching newbie here how to fight and how not to run away" Riley chuckled and Harley smiled down in embarrassment.  
"Ah, the usual homesick case." Catwoman nodded and turned towards Harley. "It's ok Harley, everyone has a pre- acceptance breakdown." She assured her in a sweet at calming voice.  
 _That voice… Where have I heard that voice…._ – Harley was trying hard to remember how she even knew that woman in front of her.  
 _OH MY GOD ITS SELINA!-_ Harley's face grew animates in one short second.  
"I know who you are! You are…" Harley was shushed by Selena  
"Don't say my name. They don't know it and I would like to keep it that way." She explained and then expression grew very serious.  
" I CAN trust you with my secret? Right" she shot Harley a stern look  
"Of course, if you can keep mine" she mimicked the same look Selina had given her.  
"But everyone is going to know who you are" Catwoman narrowed her eyes as she wasn't understanding what secret she meant.  
"Yea I know that, I mean keep it until then. And keep out hideout a secret. "Harley fully explained and Selina nodded in comprehension.  
"Oh of course then. I already keep this place a secret for the boss. And I protect it from the bats." She smiled proudly at her good work when she was able to distract Batman in order to keep the warehouse safe.

"The boss? So you've been working for the Joker this whole time?" Harley's face a little since it seemed everyone in this town seemed to either work for the Joker or trying to kill him. She wasn't sure who she could trust anymore.

"Wait you said you protected us from an attack from Batman?" Riley raised his voice a little and made it echo a little on the empty hall.

"Yup, he was standing on the roof of the building just next to this one, im sure he didn't know that he was about to discover the Joker's hideout because it took one little distraction for him to back off with his family and leave. He's been gone for a while now." Selina explained as she sighed deeply at the memory once more.

"I knew I had seen someone watching us from the other building!" Riley exclaimed as he ran his and though his hair.

"No, it couldn't have been him, because he would have recognized me instantly and he would have come over to attack. Im sure what you saw was nothing." Harley assured him and put on hand on his shoulder.

"You guys were outside? At least you didn't get caught by the boss" Selina felt her stomach drop, and was thankful that luck was running with them tonight. Harley nodded but before anyone could say another word, an eerie laugh broke from the shadows.

"Shit" Harley cussed as the Joker came out and met them with a wide smile, and turned first towards Catwoman.

"So word has it that you have saved my little hideout, or as I like to call it: Joker's Fun Land, from a bat attack?" He crossed his arms and another amused laugh escaped from his red lips.

"Yea, it was a close one." Catwoman nodded and shot a worried glance over to Harley who was paler than the moon outside.

"Yea, too close. All of you in my office, NOW!" He shouted so loudly that it made Harley jump in fright. She knew she was in a heap of trouble.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone! Hope you like this one. It's going to be shorter than the rest of the chapters I've uploaded so far (please don't hate me for that :0). I just couldn't think of what else to add before the big heist coming either next chapter or the one after that (still haven't decided yet lol). Also I'm going camping this week for my birthday! Wool! But I'll be so behind in my writhing :( but I'll try my best to catch up and upload before starting school on the 24th. Love you guys :) don't forget to review and share and all that good stuff!  
 **Disclaimer: I do not own any DC characters or references in this story. They belong to DC comics and all their respective companies.**  
Chapter 4: Falling  
"What the hell were you doing out there?" The Joker's fury was clearly visible in his wide forest green eyes. Harley kept her head down and her eyes on the ground. She knew that look too well and knew how much fear this look brought upon her. One look into his eyes and all the fear she had under control at the moment would spike up to a new level fear.  
"I don't know" Harley's voice was barley a whisper  
"What do you mean you don't know? Harley. Look at me when I'm speaking to you" he slammed his hand loudly on the desk in front of him making a huge thump sound that echoed through the whole office. All of this aggression made Harley's nerves act up and she began to shiver with fear.  
"What is the matter with you Harley?! You don't take crap from anyone else, but when I'm yelling at you, all you can do is hold back and turn into a small ball of cowardice! Look at you? This is pathetic." He used his hand to gesture towards her and his eyes grew heavy with extreme disappointment. Everyone stayed still and didn't dare speak up in fear that his anger would blind him and he would end up killing someone. Everyone knew how unpredictable he became when he was angry and it wasn't unusual for a poor henchman to be randomly called into his office and never come out…

At least not alive.  
 _I need a drink-_ The joker walked over to a nearby wooden cupboard that contained an almost empty bottle of whiskey and a few glasses. He quickly grabbed a glass and poured the remaining alcohol from the bottle into the glass and chugged it. When he was done, he made a loud satisfaction sound with his mouth and took a deep breath as he hoped that the alcohol would loosen him up a little and keep his anger at bay. After another long pause of silence he walked towards Harley. The prolonged silence helped her calm her nerves and her body had stopped quivering in fear.  
 _He's right, completely right. What is the matter with me! Keep it together_ \- she angrily told herself and managed to move her eyes form the ground and slowly made them look up at the man she loved and feared the most.  
"Harley," the Joker finally broke the silence, "do you know what I hate the most?"  
"Umm Batman?" Harley looked down again and her voice lowered in fright.  
"Actually there is one thing that I hate more that the Bat… Do you know what that is?" He asked again and slowly approached his new sidekick.  
"No…" She confessed and her voice lowered as her heartbeat sped up leaving her out of breath.  
"Cowardice… I hate cowards. My men and I are the worst of the worst, as far as humanity goes at least. You can call us anything from petty criminals to terrorists. But we are not cowards. The ones who are actual cowards, even if it's hidden deep inside, are immediately casted out and we get rid of them like the garbage they are. Are you a coward Harley?" He asked with a menacing smile. Harley just sat there in complete silence.  
 _I don't even know the answer… Am I coward? What am I? -_ Harley's mind was running at an alarming rate as a million thoughts passed through her mind at the same time.  
"For fucks sake Harley! Answer me what I'm speaking to you!" He slammed the glass in his hand down on the nearby desk, shattering it at immediate contact. Making everyone else in the room jump with surprise.  
"S...sorry" she stuttered nervously and was barely able to look up at him for a brief second before gluing her eyes on the ground.  
"Sorry? That's all you can say? Just sorry?" His anger began to rise again and his vision became blurred as his anger overcame him. He turned to face Harley and an ear piercing laugh emanated from his throat and he gathered all his force in one big pushed he used to shove Harley backwards out of her chair. Her whole body crashed loudly into the floor and Catwoman and Riley jumped out of their chairs and backed up from the fight that was about to break out.  
"Stand up damn it" the Joker screamed as Harley rolled over and pushed herself off the ground. "Hahahahhahaha! There we go! Prove me wrong! Show me that you aren't a coward!" He challenged at waited for Harley to attack the way he's seen her before. But instead of getting the Harley he knew well, he got nothing out of her. She just stood there, eyes on the ground and her hands intertwined with each other at her hips, her face completely emotionless. Selina's eyes grew with worry and she turned to see that Riley had the same shocked expression engraved into his face.  
"Come on!" The Joker groaned and stomped over to her. He extended his left arm and with full force used it to slap her across the face. As his hand collided with the side of her face, a loud sound went through the air. Harley shut her eyes tightly as the tarts began escaping her eyes and she quickly placed her right hand on the hit spot in her cheek, she was sure that there was a red mark right on that spot that stood out from the rest of her pale skin. She knew that she was going to have a leftover mark on her face after that.  
"Do something!" He yelled at her face slapped her hard on the other side of her face, this time Harley stumbled backwards a little but was quick to regain her balance. She opened her eyes and the tears rolled freely down her cheek and down her neck.  
"You have to be fucking kidding me!" The joker rolled his eyes in disbelief and used his hand again, but instead of slapping her, he used his force to punch her directly in the stomach and watched in complete satisfaction as all the air left Harley's lungs and she doubled over in pain. Harley couldn't keep her fear in any longer and began to sob loudly.  
"Fight back! Show me that bravery you use to fight at The Vault!" He waited anxiously for anything that might show him that she want a complete coward after all.  
"Mmmm…no" Harley whispered and shook her head as she turned down his invitation for a fight.  
"Damn it Harley! I thought you knew what you were getting yourself into when you decided to join me. I guess I was wrong." He pulled one side of his coat open and pulled out his favorite gun and pointed it at her.  
"Just do it!" Harley sobbed and closed her eyes as she awaited the bullet that would end her life.  
"Wow this is truly pathetic…" He lowered his gun and sighed deeply as he put it away where he had it hidden inside his suit.  
"Why didn't you do it?" Harley was closed her eyes and another round of tears escaped her yes.  
"Can you stop that? You are really breaking the fun mood here in this place." He went back to his chair and flopped down into it.  
"Guys! Sit back down." He ordered and waves his hand for them to come forward.  
"Anyways Harley, you're fired. I won't kill you now because there are too little witnesses. But I will do it soon. At least before the heist and it will be public so at least you'll die with your reputation in Gotham and Arkham squeaky clean." He explained nonchalantly as if he weren't talking about her execution and kept his tone casual as if he were discussing the weather. He didn't break eye contact with her so he wouldn't miss any emotion that came from her deep blue eyes. "Hey don't give me that look" he pointed out as Harley's eyes revealed how distressed she felt. "I warned you that we don't have any room for cowards in this place. Anyways please get out of my sight before I decide to kill you right now" he pointed towards the door. Harley nodded and slowly got up from her seat. She felt like complete crap as she shuffled towards the door but stopped before leaving the room  
"Don't you love me?" Harley asked and didn't stop the tears from building up as the words escaped her mouth. The joker furrowed his eyebrows and had to think about his answer. The few seconds that he used to think were torture for Harley, but the silence confirmed his answer.  
"I don't love any cowards… No go" he shooed her away as he waved a dismissal gesture towards her and she obediently walked out the door.  
"Riley, go escort her to her room and maybe talk to her, but make sure she doesn't try to escape again. Make sure you are doing your job. You don't want to share her fate" the Joker snapped his fingers and pointed at the door, signaling for Riley to get out. He let out an exasperated groan and plopped down in his chair.  
"Don't you think that was a bit harsh?" Catwoman asked him in a displeased tone as her red lips set in a thin line that expresses how unsettled she was feeling after witnessing Harley being sentenced to death.  
"I don't have to explain myself, especially you" he chucked and shot her a judgmental look that made her engulf in pure fury.  
"And what is THAT supposed to mean?" She narrowed her eyes at his words clenched her teeth when she noticed that her anger was amusing to him.  
"Look, I don't need to explain why I do or don't do certain things, especially not to those who are below me." His voice echoed with pride and superiority as he shot her another hateful glance that angered her even more.  
"You are such a narcissistic asshole! Did you know that? You are such an egotist! You DO NOT talk to me that way. I am not one of your little workers you can oppress into obedience" She pushed herself out of the chair and planted her right hand down on the desk in front of her and used it as a support base as she leaned forward to be face to face with the Joker. "You better use that brain of yours and realize that I am just as dangerous, just as clever and just as important than you" she now used her left hand and began pointing directly at his face.  
"Get your nasty claws out of my face" he slowly raised one hand and pushed Catwoman's hand away from his face.  
"Nasty?" Her voice turned stentorian, very loud and severe as she became slightly insulted at his remark. "If you must know, I just filed them to become very sharp. Do you want me to try them out?" A challenging smirk flashed across her face  
"Do I need to remind you that you work for me?" He stood up and shoved her angrily which made her wobble a little as she almost lost her balance.  
"I only work for you because you keep all the other criminals in the city off my territory" she regained her balance quickly and shifted to a slight crouch as she prepared for herself from any type of attack from him.  
"And you do whatever I say in return. That was our accord." He pointed out the other half of their contract. "And if you want to keep your precious jewels off the hands of other criminals, I suggest that you shut the fuck up and get out my sight right now" the Joker walked around his desk and as he stood in front of her, he grabbed her arm in a tight compression and pulled her towards the door in a rough manner only stopping to pull the door open. "Get out you filthy cat" he shoved her out the door and smaller the door shut behind him.

Ha!  
Haha!  
Hahahaha!  
Hahahahaha!  
Hahahahahaha!

He began to laugh at the sudden turn of events the night had brought along. He prances over to the phone, pressed a few numbers rapidly and waited. The phone beeped as the call was getting through and The joker began to tap his foot impatiently.  
"Hello?" A husky voice said from the other end of the line  
"GOOOOOOD MOORNING MATEOOOOOO!" The joker said in an unusually light and singsong tone.  
"It's the middle of the night boss" Mateo groaned  
"So? It's never too late to walk up to my office to work for your favorite psychopath!" He let a throaty laugh escape his mouth and beamed with both excitement and bliss.  
"Of course not boss. Be there in a minute" Mateo joined in his laugh and then hung up the phone.

Harley blindly ran down the hallway as the tears clouded her vision. She didn't know exactly where she was going. She didn't even care if she fell down some flight of stairs and died, at this point in the game she didn't care if she died, she actually would have embraced death if it happened to take her at that very moment. Harley just kept running. Her right ankle suddenly stepped wrong and gave out on her forcing her whole body to wobble unnaturally and collapse. She blinked a little and rubbed the mix of tears and makeup that clouded her vision until they faded from her eyes and she was able to see clearly again. Harley didn't bother getting up, her mind and body too exhausted to do anything but lay there and cry.  
 _I'm so stupid. How did I ever think a guy like that would ever love me?_ – tears welled up in her eyes in pain as his last words ran through her head over and over again. She decided to roll over into fetal position and closed her eyes.  
 _Maybe someone will find me here, and just decide to end my misery. Where is Tony when I need him?, I know he wants me dead. Hell! I want me dead-_ the memory kept pressing pain into her heart and Harley felt as if a tiny bug planted itself inside her heart and was now chewing her heart from the inside out. Her soft sobs could be heard down the hall and knew that eventually she would be found by someone and she hoped that that someone wouldn't be the Joker. She had to move.  
 _Later_ \- she licked her lips that were now covered in salt from her tears. _I can't move now. I want to calm down first._ Her sobbing had stopped but silent tears still rolled down into the side of her face and were landing on the dirty ground next to her face.  
 _I can't do this anymore_!- she screamed inwardly as she began to imagine the horror Gotham will witness when the joker televises her execution. She imagined the horrors he would put her through before he ended her life.  
 _He will of course take his time to do it. To kill me slow and painfully, to get the most entertainment before taking my life…-_ Harley imagined the many possible ways he could end her.  
 _Maybe he'll open my stomach and begin to rip my organs one by one, sort of like a dissection: explaining to the whole city what they were and made sure that they all got a good view of the show the whole time… Maybe he'll hang me from the tallest building. He'll probably want me to hold myself to the building and hang from my bare hands… Until I give up and fall meters into my death_.- Harley began to he nauseous as she inhabited each scenario in her head, but it wasn't the concept of her death that repulsed her, it was the thought of the countless spectator watching her death and all the mental damage that would probably haunt them for the rest of their lives.  
"I… Can't let that happen…" She whispered as she slowly sat up. "I have nothing left for me… But I won't let him get his way this time" she pushed herself form the grind and used a nearby wall to help her regain keep balance. She stepped lightly and variously on her right ankle as she wasn't sure if she had hurt herself during the fall without knowing it, but as there was no pain at the applied pressure she realized that she was fine and began to walk with more confidence. She walked through the familiar hallway feeling both confident and nervous about what she was about to do. Her mind was racing and her survival instincts were telling her to walk away and go into her room away from the danger ahead. But, there was another small voice in her head that told her to keep moving forward since there was no use in prolonging the inevitable end she would have.  
Within minutes she reached the door she was looking for. Quickly approaching it, she pulled on the door and slowly opened it. Immediately, she was greeted by the refreshing air of nighttime Gotham. Harley stepped into the roof for the second time in one night. She would have never imagined the first time that she stepped out there that night; she would come back a few moments later to face herself with death.  
Harley slightly chucked at the way life seemed to twist itself around in so little time. One moment things are great, life is full of hope and glee and the next thing you know everything you know falls around you and you are suddenly faced with death.  
"Funny how life changes that way" Harley spoke to herself and walked over to the edge of the roof. Harley took a deep breath and placed her hands in the concrete barrier and slowly leaned over to take a look on the ground below. It wasn't too high but refinery high enough to get the job done. Without giving it another thought, she swung her right leg up until her foot was settled on the barrier then she used her arms to push her body upwards in order to have both feet on the edge. Her survival instincts rushed to her one last time as adrenaline began to pump all over her body and a thin sheet of sweat began to spread across her forehead. Her heart was pacing at a high rate but Harley didn't bother to try and calm it down.  
"What's the point?" Harley reminded herself why she was going to jump. "There is nothing left. My family doesn't care about me, I threw my career down the drain, my sanity is out the window and the man I love wants me dead." Her voice cracked as a tight knot formed in her throat as she tried her best to hold back the tears.  
It's time- she nodded and looked down one last time before shifting her head upwards to look at dark sky before closing her eyes and letting the cold wind embrace her.

Knock knock knock  
"Harley it's me, Riley. Open up" Riley banged loudly on Harley's bedroom door but it was to no avail. There was no answer. Riley was sure she would be in there, but the abnormal silence told him otherwise.  
"Harley, are you in there? This isn't funny! You are starting to worry me, please open up before I have to bust this door down." He warned with a stern voice in hopes that Harley would cut the drama and answer the damn door. He waited patiently a few seconds but all he got was more silence. He leaned against the wall for s few seconds to try and decide what to do.  
 _Damn… I just can't believe how heartless he is sometimes… I would never say it to his face, but I just don't understand how he could have feelings for someone but decide that he is better off with her dead just because of one flaw, one mistake. That's not right._ \- he shook his head and decided to start knocking again.  
"She's not answering" a sudden suave voice spoke form behind him. He looked back and saw Catwoman standing there with the same concerned look he could feel on his face plastered all over her own face.  
"No. But I've been trying but there's no answer." He explained and stepped back to join her.  
"Do you think she went somewhere else? She nervously bit her lip and tried to imagine where else Harley would go.  
"I don't know. Every time she's upset she just comes here to blow off some steam, so this is the first place I thought of looking. The door is locked so maybe she's in here." He shrugged his shoulders and shot her and waited for her to give him any suggestions on what to do next.  
"Did you see the way she looked at him before she left? He broke her. You could visibly see her heart break into a million pieces. Her eyes revealed everything." She asked with a blank stare as she remembered seeing her broken expression.  
"Yeah I saw that." He nodded as he recalled the moment and looked down at the ground.  
"Riley" Catwoman slowly said in a terrified tone that caught his attention and he immediately looked up at her and noticed that her face had grown extremely pale.  
"What's wrong" he said in the same terrified tone  
"Y…you don't think that Harley would try to do anything dangerous in this situation, right?" She was barely able to stutter out. Riley immediately began to imagine the worse as Catwoman's words began to settle in.  
"No…" Was all he said as his heart dropped to the ground and decide to find out if what Catwoman had said was all in her head and not a reality. He took a few steps back and kicked the door as hard as he could; thankfully adrenaline was running through his body and the kick came out with such a force that it opened without the need of any more force. As soon as the door swung open, the both rushed in hoping to find Harley in there safe and sound. But she was nowhere to be seen. The room was dark and empty, which brought them a mix of feeling. They were glad Harley wasn't dead in there. But then the feeling of dread washed over them as they both realized that she could be in trouble in another spot of the warehouse.  
"Where could she be?" Catwoman frantically whispered  
"I... Don't know" Riley's mind was half way in space as he was suddenly struck with one memory. He remembered earlier when he discovered Harley on the roof mid-crisis, he remembered the way she seemed to be loving the feeling of freedom the roof brought to her.  
"Oh crap! Let's go!" He shouted and broke into a run. Catwoman was taken back a little but followed him  
"Where are we going?" She asked little out of breath as they continued their trip across the warehouse.  
"Roof" he explained and looked over to her.  
"Shit!" Her face grew pale and began to pick up the pace. If Riley was right, and if they ran fast enough, they might just make it in time. When they finally reached the door, Catwoman didn't hesitate to violently shove the door out of their way and stepped into the coolness of the night. Their hearts accelerated as they impatiently waited for their eyes to adjust, slowly revealing a figure standing near the edge of the building.  
They found her.  
"Harley no!" Riley shouted as he laid eyes on her and his stomach dropped in an uneasy feeling as he realized what she was about to do. Harley remained completely still with her eyes closed as if she couldn't hear Riley's frantic screams.  
"We have to get her down before she decides to do jump!" Catwoman suggested in a nervous tone  
"No that's…" Riley began to protest but Catwoman was not listening and hopped once to give her a little momentum as she sprinted towards Harley.  
"Stop!" Riley warned "if she sees you running towards her, she might not hesitate to jump! She'll rush into things without giving us a chance to intervene!" He took a few slow and attentive stepped forward as he didn't want Harley to feel as if they were ganging up on her which would most likely lead Harley to jump right to her death. Catwoman wasn't listening, mostly due to the fact that her nerves were getting the best of her form the tense situation, and she continued to run towards Harley.  
The whole commotion behind her broke Harley's concentration and she finally pivoted to see what was going on behind her. She was a bit taken back since he hadn't heard anyone come in after her and she briefly wondered how long has she been mediating for.  
"Please Harley don't do this!" Catwoman begged, her voice full of desperation.  
"Why shouldn't I? I'm going to die anyway and I will not give him the satisfaction of letting him take my life. I can do that myself." Harley turned around to face the edge once more.  
"Listen to me I know what you can do to…" Riley started to speak and was about to explain his plan in hopes that she would listen and come back to her senses, but Harley didn't want to hear it. She put up one hand up in the air to silence him and turned to glare at him.  
"Can't you understand! It's too late!" Her eyes began to water with tears full of anger. She had been pushed to the limit of her sanity and couldn't take the pain any longer.  
"Goodbye" she half whispered before throwing herself off the roof and Harley began to fall.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey peeps! So I was watching this episode of Law and Order and a part of the episode brought me the inspiration that I needed for this chapter. Let me know if you know which episode I'm talking about hahaha. Anyways, don't forget to review and favorite the story if you love this so far. Love you guys ^_^  
Chapter 5: Russian Roulette  
Harley closed her eyes as she embraced her fate and let herself fall.  
"No!" Riley shouted in horror as he saw his only friend jump out of sight and into her death. He dropped to his knees and froze there on that position.  
But Catwoman wasn't ready to accept that. She didn't hesitate to jump into action and immediately reached down to pull her whip out from where if laid tightly fastened on the side of her left hip. As she pulled it, it cut through the air with a loud whoosh. Catwoman took a small step back and raised her right arm and with a swift flick of her wrist threw the whip forwards as she also threw her body with it, where it landed right on top of the concrete barrier with the top half of her body hanging down to reach towards Harley. The whip flew down towards the falling girl. It quickly reached her arm and wrapped itself tightly around it a few times immediately stopping her fall.  
"Riley! Get up! Help me pull her up!" Catwoman shouted with the strain clearly audible as she huffed while Harley's full weight began to pull her down the edge. Her legs left the ground and her body tried to balance on top of the barrier as she tried not to get dragged down. Riley's heart skipped as he realized what was happening right in front of him and he jumped up immediately running to their aid. He reached down and grabbed on to the railing with one hand and with his other hand he reached down to grab the only thing holding on to Harley. As Catwoman pushed herself back to a standing position, she let out thankful sigh that Riley came to her aid just when he did, because otherwise she would have fallen along to Harley to both of their deaths.  
"Help me pull her up" Riley huffed as Harley's weight was beginning to take a toll on his arms.  
"Sorry" Catwoman leaned forward and placed both hands firmly on another part of the long whip to help Riley handle the weight.  
"Let's both pull on 3" Catwoman suggested and Riley simply nodded in agreement.  
"1...2...3!" She announced and as the last number left her mouth, both used all the strength they both could find in their back muscles and pulled rapidly.  
"No!" Harley frantically screamed and began to kick her legs widely in protest. "Let me down! Let me fall! Let me die" she widely shook around, making the whole whip and her saviors shake along with her.  
"Harley stop! You're unwrapping yourself!" Riley shouted in complete distress as he could feel the whip's grip on Harley become a little flaccid the more she continued to shake.  
"Don't stop pulling!" Catwoman shouted as she too, could feel the whip loosing strength. They both continued their pulling as time was running out, at any given moment, the whip would unravel and Harley would continue to fall. Harley wasn't too far from where Riley and Catwoman were standing, all they needed to do was give one more pull and Harley would be back into a safe place.  
But gravity was present and working along with Harley's weight and her crazy kicking, it completely unraveled the leather arm that had been wrapped around her wrist tightly. Harley was once again falling. But Riley was quick to react to the sudden change of circumstances and dived in after his friend. His feet locked into place on the concrete railing in order to prevent him falling along with her. He reached out just in time to grab her tightly by her wrist and used his other hand on her forearm. Catwoman gasped, feeling a bit taken back by his sudden dive and immediately went after Riley and wrapped one arm around his waist to make pulling him back an easier job. After much effort, Riley's feet touched the ground and Harley was one step closer to safety. Catwoman then proceeded to grab Harley's free hand.  
"Let me go!" Harley shouted at the top of her lungs and continued to struggle to get loose. Riley placed his hands on Harley's weight and pulled her up towards them and carefully laid her down on the ground next to them.  
"Why... Why did you do that?" Harley managed to say between sobs.  
"To save your life!" Catwoman sat on the ground next to her, her voice a bit strained as she tried to catch her breath from the effort put into saving Harley's life.  
"Are you guys stupid? I'm going to die either way! I rather do it myself" Harley threw one arm over her face to cover her teary eyes.  
"Harley please, listen" Riley sat on Harley's other side. "I know it seemed pretty hopeless but I can help you. I know what to do if you want to stay." He waited to continue until Harley's curiosity grew and she moved her arm off her ace to shoot him a skeptical look.  
"But… It's too late. I was fired. It's over, there's nothing that I can do" Harley shook her head and the tears came back to roll freely down the side of her face. "You guys don't understand that there's no going back. He made his choice, and it wasn't me. I don't care if die or if I live, there's no point now… He doesn't love me." Harley pushed herself into a sitting position where she curled into a small ball and began to rock back and forth as the last bit of her hear dissolved info complete emptiness.  
"Harley listen I know what you can do to get your spot back" Riley insisted and hoped that Harley would stop the waterworks and payed attention to his suggestion.  
"Shut up! Shut up!" Harley continued to rock back and forth in a maniacal manner as she pressed her hands to her ears in a childish attempt to block any outside noise. Her odd behavior took Riley completely by surprise and he didn't know what to do to bring the old Harley back, so he just sat there with a concerned look on his face as he stared directly at her.  
"Oh shut the fuck up Harley!" Catwoman sprung to her feet and got closer to Harley in order to give her a good slap across the face. "Hello? Can we speak to the real Harley?" Catwoman violently shook Harley's body back and forth before shoving her back down. "Are you back to normal?" The annoyance in her tone obvious  
"Well that was rude" Harley furrowed her eyebrows and grunted in protest while she gently massaged her red cheek.  
"I think that was completely necessary" Riley pointed out "Now are you ready?"  
"Ready for what? To get my heart broken? Well guess what I don't have a heart anymore" Harley sighed and her eyes dropped as she remembered the Jokers last words.  
"You are so dramatic!" Riley chuckled and continued before Harley could interrupt him. "I meant ready to listen to what I have to say?"  
"Fine." Harley wiped the mix of snot and tears from her face. As she moved, she realized that the tears had dehydrated her and she was now suffering from a throbbing headache. She sighed and immediately knew this was going to be a long night.  
"All hope is not yet lost" he began to explain "I know he fired you, but let's go back and remember why" he suggested "what were you doing that set him off?"  
"I was avoiding his eyes" Harley's eyes became distant as her mind had traveled in time and was reliving the events that triggered this whole mess.  
"Why?" Riley asked, sounding like a professional psychologist  
"I was afraid of him. I knew I wasn't allowed out here and I knew he was giving me that look that frightens the crap out of me… I didn't look at him when he asked me to do so at first, but he kept insisting and I had to look. When I did, I froze. The fear paralyzed me. I don't know why I acted like that…" Harley trailed off and her eyes began to well up in tears as she had reached the last memory and his cruel words echoed in her head.  
"What did he think of you?" Riley broke her concentration and she looked over to him before her eyes became distant again as her mind raced back one more time.  
"He thought I was a coward" she whispered and her lips set in a thin line of embarrassment.  
"But are you one?" Riley asked, trying to get her to realize what he was getting at  
"Yes I am." Harley's voice cracked in pain and a small tear began to escape the corner of her left eye.  
"You're wrong. If you were a coward, you wouldn't have left everything behind to be with him. If you were a coward, then you wouldn't have risked your life to save him from that he'll whole of an asylum." Riley shook his head and his eyes grew with admiration  
"He's right Harley" Catwoman added "The Joker was just angry. You know how he gets when he's angry. He probably didn't think about what he was saying."  
"Yea that's true. He won't go back in his word though, at least not that easily. He doesn't like to admit when he's wrong. So if you just walk into his office and demand another chance, the most likable outcome would be that you will end up getting a bullet shot right through your head." He explained in a cool and casual voice. Harley could imagine the whole scenario and her face lost color, turning into a noticeable pale as she visualized his gun pressed against her forehead.  
"Then what do I do?" Harley ran a hand through her hair and realized that is was a complete mess with countless knots that she knew were not going to be able to get out easily.  
"You need to do something so crazy that will convince him that you aren't a coward. He knows you aren't but if my instincts are correct, he wants you to prove it" Catwoman explained and Riley nodded in agreement.  
"But what if you're wrong? What if he truly never loved me and he just decides to kill me after all?" Harley's tone began to raise a few I catches m, getting that crazy tone to it.  
"First of all, you need to control your emotions. He hates pointless crying. It pisses him off. You can't work for him and show any emotions. It shows weakness and that's not a thing we can afford. He cares about you, trust me. You just need to remind him why he started to fall for you in the first place." Riley smiled but Harley didn't return the gesture but simply stated at him in confusion as she didn't know what he was taking about.  
"Sometimes I think it's all an act… Because I don't even know why or how he even started to care about me, it just sort of happened." Harley looked down and bit her lip trying to control her emotions just like Riley had suggested. It seemed to work as she had avoided breaking down in a huge emotional mess again.  
"Love is weird. Sometimes you don't know how or when it happens. You never know how you'll find it. You don't find love, love finds a way to reach you" Catwoman said as she looked up at the sky and her eyes trailed the night sky of Gotham. She sighed deeply and a wide smile spread across her lips and blushed lightly as she thought of a special someone.  
 _That's strange_ \- Harley's face scrunched in accusation as she understood the meaning behind her deep sighs and poetic tone _. I'll have to ask her about that later_. - Harley added a mental tone before turning over to Riley  
"He just needs a reminder why he started to notice you. You obviously were different from the rest of the doctors. But there was something that he loved about you, he loved it enough that he let you live after you broke him out and that he decided to make you his sidekick, not a mere worker like the rest of us" Riley analyzed  
"You would make a great psychologist." Harley laughed and took a deep breath before pushing her body off the ground. Riley stood up after Harley and turned towards Catwoman to offer hi hand to help her stand up. Catwoman smiled and took it.

"Thanks for not letting me die" Harley dashed over to Riley and wrapped her arms around him in a thankful hug. After she had pulled away, she repeated the same gesture on Catwoman who was most eager on returning the gesture.  
"I'm glad we made it in time" Selina laughed and they all joined in the laughter  
"But seriously, let's not do anything reckless for a while now. That really took a huge toll on my system" Riley yawed lightly while Selina and Harley joined in for a brief moment before his worlds really settled in her head.  
"Reckless… Reckless…! That's it!" Harley half shouted as an idea popped inside her head.  
"What is it?" Riley asked as he felt extremely intrigued by her idea  
"If I want to prove that I belong in thins team, I need to do something crazy, reckless and unexpected. Just like him." Harley smiled in excitement and walked back to the door.  
"Let's go guys, we have a long night of planning to do" she announced as she disappeared back into the building, being closely followed by Riley and Catwoman.

 _Beep…. Beep… Beep_ _  
_ _Hello you have reached the voicemail of: Barbara Gordon. The person you are trying to contact is busy and can't take your call at the moment. Please leave a message after the tone…. Beep_ _  
_"Hey… Me again. Can we talk? I think what happened back at the manor last night was a mistake. I miss you. Call me back as soon as you get this. Bye" Dick walked around his room as she spoke firmly into the phone. He hasn't spoken to his ex-girlfriend since she had decided to break their relationship off just the night before. He'd been calling her all day and there had been no answer.  
"She's ignoring you" Damian pointed out with a small hint of amusement in his voice.  
"No really? I hadn't noticed" Dick rolled his eyes and the sarcasm in his voice was heavy. He sighed in frustration and threw his phone on his bed, where it softy landed after a small bounce.  
"She'll come around. You guys always seem to break up and get back together. I'm sure this short break won't last long" Damian walked over to his bed and casually sat down.  
"What are you doing here?" Dick tuned to shoot him a glare, making his deep blue eyes large with confusion.  
"You talk really loud. Especially if you're talking into the phone, your voice seems to rise a little more. And plus your door was open so when I was casually walking by I couldn't help but overhear your conversation." Damian coolly explained and shrugged his shoulders to let Dick know no harm was meant.  
"Right… Anyways, I know it seems like we are always off and on. But this time is different, it feels different…" Dick shook his head and his voice trailed off  
"Different how?" Damian pressed the subject.  
"I don't know… I guess it was the way she looked at me. It made me feel like it's really over between us." He walked over to the wall and slid down to a sitting position.  
"Well… Don't take this personally, but you've been such a jerk to her. You can't really expect a woman like Babs to take that." Damian slowly explained and his eyebrows rose a little as he tried to make his words sound gentle.  
"I was angry! She humiliated me in front of everyone!" He threw his hands up in frustration and groaned loudly at the memory…

 _It was a cold and rainy evening at the Wayne Manor. Two families were gathered around the massive glass dining table, enjoying the delectable dinner Alfred had prepared for them. Everyone was gathered, Bruce, Damian, Richard and even Tim had made time to go visit them on that special evening. Joining them that evening was the Gordon family, composed by James, his wife Barbara and their two children, James Jr and Richard's girlfriend Barbara . The evening was going quite well and the hum of different conversations filled the air. An hour into the evening, Richard stretched out his right hand to pull his suit sleeve out of his way as he glanced at his watch to check the time._ _  
_ _8:30- he thought and without wasting another minute he stood up and grabbed the glass of wine directly in front of him and his fork. He clinked the fork against the glass inviting everyone to turn their attention to him._ _  
_ _"Hello, I have an announcement" he had said, before wiping the thin sheet of sweat that had formed above his lips. All the guests stopped their conversations and immediately turned to give Dick all their attention._ _  
_ _"Thank you." He smiled to look at everyone gathered that night. "As you all know, me and Babs have been together for quite some time now. We've had our differences in the past and our relationship has been through some ups and downs. And we've both been through countless problems and crises like regulars couples. But the best thing is, that we've endured them together." Dick slowly began to pace to where Barbara was sitting. "I try to imagine my future and all I see in it is Babs by my side. I can't imagine anything else." He kneeled down in one knee and briefly paused to pull out a small black box from his suit jacket's pocket and opened it, exposing a huge princess cut diamond ring in front of her._ _  
_ _"Barbara, I love you. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" He asked his voice filled with awe. Everyone stared at her as they seated patiently for her answer. Barbara was dumbfounded and couldn't find the mouth to speak. She looked around and her mom was teary eyes with excitement and her dad had a face of complete shock on his face, probably similar to the one she had on her. Richard was now a sweaty mess, the nerves getting the best out of him._ _  
_ _"I'm really revered that you asked me… But I... I can't. Sorry" Barbara pushed her chair back and ran out of the room, leaving Dick on his knees behind. They all watched in horror as she ran out of the dining room. Then all of their eyes turned to Richard who had frozen in his spot. He didn't think she would deny his proposal. As he slowly managed to look up from the ground, he noticed everyone's expression of sadness and some even pity for his situation…._ __

"I didn't think she was going to say no" Richard furrowed his eyebrows and slightly shivered as he suffered from a slight cringe attack from the memory he was trying so hard to suppress.  
"But you two talked later and she explained her reasons. You should have respected her and her decision. Maybe she would still be by your side. Then maybe in a few months you could have tried again. She probably would have said yes. But now it's too late. If you feel like it's over, then it really is over. If you're not willing to fight, then you won't win her back." Damian stood up and shot him a small sympathetic smile as he walked out the door without saying another word. As soon as he was out the door, Richard pushed himself off the ground and stopped towards the door to slam it shut in anger. Damian was right.

"So you're going to kill her?" Mateo was completely confused at what just happened. He was taken back by the way things seemed to quickly change. It just reminded him that anyone was replaceable, even if you were close to the boss.  
"Of course, we need to make an example out of her, not only for our dear henchmen, but also for the townspeople. Cowardice has no place in a world like this." The joker's trademark smile spread cross his red lips and Mateo nodded in complete silence.  
"Too bad." Mateo glared down at the ground and his boss immediately took notice of his weird behavior.  
"Oh yea? And why is that?" The joker's voice deepened in straight suspicion.  
"Umm… she would have made an great worker." He quickly explained without making eye contact. "Anyways, do you have a plan on where and when you are going to kill her?"  
"No, not yet. I have a few raw ideas but nothing concrete yet. All I know is that it's going to be televised. And probably after the heist, where she won't be joining us by the way" The Joker began to chuckle in a sinister way.  
"Sounds great, may I suggest dissecting her in public?" Mateo laughed and was immediately joined him.  
"Good one. I'll consider that idea; in the meantime call a grad meeting in the Vault. Im going to announce who is going to be working side by side with me and who is working on the sidelines." The Joker waved his hand away in dismissal.  
"Right away" Mateo stood up and walked out of the room, leaving the Joker alone in his office with his thoughts. He reached down to pull out a drawer to take out a small carving knife. He began to poke at the wooden desk as his mind drifted away.  
 _Im going to miss her… but it's for the best. I can't afford to keep someone like her in the team to risk our safety. I need someone who isn't going to break against the pressure. I want someone who is willing to die for me. She obviously isn't the person I need…-_ He sighed to himself and shook his head, bringing himself back to reality. When he looked down at his desk, he realized that he had carved an eerie face: With crazy wide eyes and a large sinister smile. He smiled down at his creation.  
"Looks just like me" He laughed before being interrupted by a loud ringing by his phone. He walked over to the phone and picked up  
"What?" The Joker answered in a demanding voice  
 _We're waiting for you-_ The voice on the other line said in a calm voice.

"Great! Thanks Mateo I'll be right there" He hung up without another word and walked out the door. He shoved his hands in his pockets and pulled out a small key, similar to the one that had once been used in his cell in Arkham Asylum. He quickly locked his office door in order to keep all of his belongings safe. The hallways were completely empty as all of his workers were crammed into the training center.  
After a short trip down to the Vault, he pushed the doors open, making a grand entrance. The loud ocean of voices immediately stopped to a halt as everyone turned to look directly at him and he immediately laughed in pleasure as he loved the attention he was given. All the henchmen parted like the Red Sea in order to make a path that led to the middle of the fighting rink.  
"Hello everyone!" he waved around as he reached the center stage. "So as you all know, we are going to go on our big exposure heist in a few days and everything seems to be going as planned. Now I need to pick my small team working directly with me. After observing you all for the past few days, I have chosen seven people to work directly with me. These seven lucky individuals will of course get more pay than the others and will be meeting with me every day to discuss the plan and to make sure everything goes according to plan. The rest of you will be divided into three groups. Group A will protect us directly working near us but not with us. Team B will protect us from afar as snipers. And Team C will make sure we all escape safely ad smoothly. This team will make sure we are not followed by any cops or anyone of the like, especially not by Batman or any of his multiple sidekicks" He spat out as he said his name. "Anyway… im going to call out names and as soon as I call the names, I want the person I call to come forward and stand by next to me as we will begin the first meeting right after this. So are you ready?" He asked with full excitement in his voice while a few giggles escaped his lips and he started to clap. "Ok, let's begin. Mateo, of course. Tony, Riley, Juan, Omar, Zane, and Layth. These seven gentlemen are the best of what we have as of today. Ok I will divide you up by groups based on where you are standing." He began gesturing towards the lefts and moving on towards the right, dividing the henchman into three separate groups. As soon as everyone was standing in their distinct groups, the Joker began to speak again  
"Well, thank you everyone. That will…" he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the metal doors opening loudly.  
"What about me Puddin?" Harley spoke loud and clear as she pushed through the large crowd of henchmen and soon was standing right in front of the Joker.  
"What the hell are you doing in here?" The Joker put his hands on his hips and glared down at her. This time she didn't shy away from his intimidating glare and that was something that truly surprised him as just the night before, she was a huge mess of despair and cowardice. This behavior intrigued and amused him, that's what kept him from strangling her.  
"Im here to fight for a spot in your team." Harley crossed her arms and glared back at him.  
"I thought I was extremely clear last night when I said that you were fired" He raised his eyebrow and a few silent murmurs began to fill the room,  
"Im not stupid, I perfectly understood that I was fired. But you aren't going to get rid of me so easily. I deserve this spot and I will not go without a fight" Harley's voice grew darker to expose her determination.  
"There is no room for cowards here" The Joker raised his hand to slap her but Harley raised her hand and grabbed his arm midair to prevent him from slapping her.  
"No. I'm here to prove that I am a risk taker and I am not afraid. Not even of death." Harley threw his hand down away from her.  
"And how exactly are you going to do that?" He challenged as he stepped towards her.  
"Let's play a game" Harley mimicked his eerie and dark tone and his eyes flashed in surprise.  
"Oh! How fun! What do you have in mind" He asked as he chuckled lightly.  
"Russian Roulette" Harley smirked and a playful smile scared across her lips  
"Sounds lovely" he copied the same mischievous smile and looked back at the workers standing next to him and used that glance to order them to back up. "How will I know this isn't just some set up to have me killed?" He narrowed his eyes at that possibility.  
"You pick the gun then." Harley shrugged her shoulders and waited patiently as the Joker considered the suggestion.  
"Fine, let's see who gets lucky" the Joker smiled and held up a finger to signal Harley to stay exactly where she stood. He turned and his workers split to make room once again. This time, their path led him to the arsenal next to the shooting range. The metal door was sealed with a passcode. The joker grabbed the keypad and pressed the few buttons needed to insert the password and soon after, the metal doors slid open and he stepped inside. The arsenal wasn't too big, but it did contain a countless number of different weapons that came in different shapes and sizes. But the joker wasn't interested in any of them. He walked until he reached the far end wall and reached a special glass shelf that was sealed with a key and had an engraving on the wall that hovered above it. It read: The Joker's Toys. He grabbed the same key from his office from hi picket and opened the glass container to reveal an assorted variety of guns, throwing knifes, small grenades that contained a lethal dose of laughing gas that went by numerous aliases. Some called it Joker Juice, others call it happy gas, and some others call it the Perma-Smile. This was one of his favorite weapons to use as it kills it's victim while it leaves a permanent smile carved into their faces. But it wasn't what he had been looking for at that moment. His eyes kept drifting until he found what he was looking for. It was a handheld revolver with a purple handle and was engraved with the word "bang" along the grip. His smile widened and he reached out to grab it. After placing it in his pocket he locked the cabinet with the key and proceeded to leave the arsenal. He quickly walked back towards Harley and waved the gun above his head.  
"I picked one" he chucked and ordered to place it in her hands. "What do you think?"  
"How will I know that you didn't cheat and placed the bullet conveniently in a chamber that would inevitably hit me?" She narrowed her eyes  
"I'll get a random henchman to take all the bullets out, except for one of course." He then turned to stare at the henchman closest to him and used two fingers to wave his fingers to call him forward. The man jumped a little from the sudden attention and didn't hesitate to take the gun his boss was offering. He then took four out of the five bullets out and handed the gun back to his boss.

"Are we ready then?" Harley impatiently asked

"You know you could die right now" He pointed out in a low voice.

"If that's what it takes to prove that I am not a coward, then so be it" Harley nodded to prove her understanding.

"Just giving you a chance to back out while you still can" He smiled and took a step back "I'll go first then" He pulled the hammer down with his thumb and raised the gun up to his temple and didn't hesitate to pull. This was followed by a quiet click.

Nothing happened.

The gun fired only air and the Joker started laughing hysterically. As the whole place buzzed with whispers and excitement as their boss had escaped death for this round.

"Your turn my love!" He inched the gun towards her and she immediately snagged the gun from his hand and like him, she didn't hesitate to place it on her head. She quickly smiled and in a brief second pushed the hammer down and pulled the trigger and the same clicking sound echoed through The Vault.

Nothing happened

"Look at that! Seems like luck is with you for now" he smirked and took the gun from her hand and put it inside his mouth and pulled the trigger.

Again nothing happened. And everyone's whispers became louder.

"Seems like you aren't the only one who has luck on their side" He pointed out as he stretched out to hand Harley the gun.

"Whoo hoo" Harley sarcastically cheered as she put the gun behind her ear and pulled.

Again, nothing happened. And the joker laughed hysterically.

"Well, well, well" The joker spoke slowly "Seems like our chances have gone down to a fifty percent. The gun can go off at any moment. If it doesn't go off when I fire it now… then we'll know who has to die right?" He smirked and slowly raised the gun to his head. He inhaled lightly and as he exhaled while a large grin formed on his lips. He fired the gun and a small click emanated from the handgun as there was no bullet present inside the chamber.

"Sorry love, guess luck wasn't with you after all." The Joker laughed as he shook his hand and shoved the gun towards Harley.

"I guess not…" Harley sighed and took the gun. She held it in her hands and stared down at his for a few seconds.

"You can't back out now pumpkin" The Joker reminded her and a few henchman laughed at her.

"I'm not. I rather die like this than die a coward" Harley looked up at the Joker to glare at him and shake her head. "Let's get this over with" Harley pulled the gun up to her head. Everyone stared intently at her not wanting to miss a single detail.

She slowly pulled the trigger and the gun began to leak out a large cloud of white smoke. Harley took a step back and lowered the gun ton get a better look at it. She began to wave her hand quickly in front of the gun to clear her view as she let out a couple of coughs as she began inhaling the smoke.

"What the fuck?" Harley cussed in confusion as everyone in the room grew extremely quiet. The gun soon ran out of smoke and something began growing out the it. Harley's face scrunched in confusion and kept her eyes glued down at the gun. Soon she realized the object coming out the gun was a small banner.

"Bang?" she slowly read with her voice full of confusion. She looked up at the Joker and she realized that he was quietly laughing. As soon as she laid eyes on him, the Joker busted out in a mocking laugh but was joined by no one as everyone, even Harley expected her to be dead.

"What is the meaning of this?" Harley threw the gun down and crossed her arms as she demanded an explanation.

"Just a test" He managed to say in between laughter "I wanted to make sure you were ready to be welcomed back. I need people who are willing to die by my side. Looks like you are exactly what I was looking for" he walked closer to her and wrapped his hands around her waist to pull her closer to him. Harley shook her head and tried to stop herself from smiling as she placed her hands on his chest.

"I thought you didn't love me?" Harley looked up at him and couldn't help herself from smiling.

"I said I didn't love cowards. I never said I didn't love you anymore. I just didn't want a coward around" He explained while he held her closer

"Ah ha… really? So you love so much that you wanted to kill me?" She gently pushed away from him and shot him a stern and serous look.

"We'll talk about that later" The Joker said as he looked around his workers as they were all still staring at them and some were having small conversations with each other.

"So this was all a set up? That's so stupid… what a waste of time" One worker who was standing with Group B said and started to roll his eyes. He didn't think his boss could hear him since he was so busy talking to Harley.

"What the hell did you just say?" The Joker snapped and walked towards the guy

"I… uhh... I" The guy tried to explain but it was too late; his boss was already standing right in front of him.

"NO. Shut the hell up. You do not come in here and insult the way I run things. Since you don't like it then you are fired… bye!" He laughed as he pulled out his gun from inside his coat and fired directly between his eyebrows. The man's eyes rolled back into his head and he fell down loudly on the floor as the gaping whole began spitting out blood that quickly formed into a small puddle around the man.

"Anyone else have a death wish?" The joker asked as he waved the gun around as made sure to look around the room to make sure he had the attention of all his workers. "Good" he said as he walked back to his spot next to Harley. "Slight change of plans… there will be seven henchmen accompanying me during the heist. But there is one more person working by my side: My sidekick. Gentlemen, let me introduce you to Harley Quinn!"


	6. Chapter 6

Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait. I've gone back to college and damn I'm already stressed haha and it's only been a month :( . so I've made this chapter extra long .I hope that this chapter isn't too bad. If it's really bad, I am so sorry. :O. Anyways please don't forget to review and favorite if you like this and also share with your friends haha. Sharing is caring. Love you all!

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any DC characters or references in this story. They belong to Dc comics**

Ch6: The Heist

"Does everyone have their costumes ready?" The Joker asked as he turned to look around his small selective group of workers. They all nodded while Harley patted the small duffle bag that lay on top of her thighs.

"Good!" The Joker smile widely and clapped his hands in pure excitement. "Everything is ready for dress rehearsal!" He laughed at his stage comedy and moved on to pull the blueprints once again. The minutes dragged on to hours as they all carefully reviewed their independent jobs during the heist. They all had memorized the plans and knew this plan was one of his best ones so far and they all vowed to do their jobs perfectly for two reasons: 1) if they were successful, they would become rich and 2) because their lives depended on their success.

"Ok!" The joker nodded as they finished their review session. "I need to see everyone's costumes. Just in case we have any last minute fixes. I rather take care of it now, instead of five minutes before we go on." He explained and turned his head to look at his workers who were still sitting down. "What are you doing just sitting there? Go change. You have five minutes." He clapped to make his workers hustle. They all dashed out and ran into their rooms. But Harley stayed behind.

"What are you doing Harley" the joker crossed his arms and shot her a stern look.

"Wait, I have to go too?" Harley's face turned slightly red with embarrassment.

"But... I'm" Harley stuttered nervously but her voice soon became inaudible as the Joker quickly slid in front of her and raised his hand to cover her mouth in order to silence her.

"Hey... Look, I love you. But don't make me regret keeping you around. If you want me to keep loving you, then you gotta obey. Got it?" He looked at her directly in her eyes and made sure he spoke slowly in order for Harley to understand. Every word that left his mouth hit her with such intensity that he could physically feel her tense up and as he finished his threat her head moved in slow nod.

"Good" he slowly let go of her mouth and briefly smiled before he grabbed her arm and pulled her violently towards the door. Harley quietly followed him as she had no other choice and remembered that if she didn't oblige, he will most likely dispose of her.

"Now go and be a good girl Harley" he stood behind her and after placing both hands filly on both her scapulae, gave her a (hard) push, thus shoving her into the hallway. She gently wobbled as she managed to stay upright. He then walked over to where she had dropped her duffle bag and picked it up. The Joker reached the door at threw the lightweight bag after her. The bag flew in the air and hit her right on the door where he had pushed just before.

"Go. You only have 3 minutes" his voice remained low as he tried to keep his anger at a low range.

"Yes Mr. Jay" she called after she had caught herself from hitting the floor. But he had already slammed the door behind him.

"I would kill her if she wasn't so dammed skilled" he said to himself as he used his leg to kick a chair out his way before he quickly walked over to his chair and plummeted down. He looked down at his desk which was the a complete mess with different blueprints, maps, pens, highlighters, a picture catalog of the different high tech weapons they were going to use and the bag of different vehicle models they were going to use to escape.

"We're ready for tomorrow" he's bright green eyes lit up with anticipation. His excitement was cut short as the great majority of his small elite team rejoined him. They all lined up in a neat form right in front of his desk. The Joker smiled and slowly stood up as his eyes trailed his gang to check their neat suits. They all had plum tinted vests with green dress shirts underneath and a mustard color bow tie. They all carried different clown masked propped unto their faces. Some masks featured neutral expressions, and some had a playful smile across their lips, but besides these small details, all the henchman looked the same.

"Excellent!" His voice deepened as a sinister grin spread across his face.

There is no way that this plan can fail. It's the perfect crime. - he thought as his workers began to take their masks off one by one.

"Where the hell is Harley" the joker anger bubbled on the surface making everyone jump a little.

"We don't know sir" Tony shook his head in innocence.

"She's probably still changing" riley added with a small shrug of his shoulders

"Well I don't have all day to wait for her. My time is very valuable. Someone go get her!" He pinched the bridge of his nose impatiently and signaled to the door. Immediately Riley volunteered and left the room.

"Honestly I would have gotten rid of her a long time ago" Tony rolled his eyes as he shook his head.

"Did I ask you to share your thoughts with us Tony?" The Joker lowered his head to speak closer to him

"Sorry sir, but I'm just expressing my opinion. I don't think she can be trusted to be on our team. What if she's secretly plotting against us? What if she is a double agent?" He gasped as he began to imagine the Jokers' new sidekick as a secret government agent. The other remaining henchmen began to quietly laugh as they also began to imagine the small jester working for the government. The idea was just silly to them.

"Can you stop with your James Bond bullshit?!" The joker snaked his hand down on his desk, the loud noise echoing through the room and it shook everyone back to focus. The joker thickened the air as he lowered his glare to silently warn his workers to stay in focus. Suddenly he perked up and he straightened his figure. His jaw clenched and his hands rolled into two tight fist. He moved away from his desk and walked towards the door. His lightly placed one hand on the knob and slowly pulled down. As the door opened two figures stumbled down as they were leaning on the door to eavesdrop. The joker stepped back to let them fall.

"Well look who has decided to join us!" The joker exclaimed with fake enthusiasm.

"Sorry boss. We didn't want to interrupt" Riley quickly explained as he pushed himself off the ground to a standing position. Harley looked up from the ground and couldn't help herself from giggling at Riley's nervous face.

"Sorry I'm late Puddin!" Harley gently stood up and smiled around the room before turning to plant a big kiss on her lovers pale cheek. "I just couldn't figure out how to put this annoying suit on" Harley looked down at her outfit and a wave of confidence went over her as she liked the way the suit hugged her lean body. She gently adjusted the jester hat on top of her head and that is when she heard it... Complete silence. The sudden heaviness of the silence made her look up and around the room. Everyone, except Riley had their eyes glued onto Harley.

"What's going on?" Harley turned and shot him a confused look. Riley looked over the Joker's vacant eyes and a small laugh escaped his mouth.

"Mr. J?" Harley pushed herself closer to him and placed her hand on his shoulders and gently shook.

"What?" The Joker pushed her away when he was finally brought back to the present.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" She leaned closer and whispered to him before looking around one more time.

"Why wouldn't they be? Look at yourself" he gestured towards her and his eyes burned with desire. Harley narrowed her eyes and stepped back. The joker took one step closer to her, closing the small distance between them.

"What's wrong pumpkin?" his voice grew strangely intimidating.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" She repeated her question in hope that she would receive a serious answer. The Joker took one more step close and reached for her arm. He pulled her towards the center of the room.

"I knew you would look good in the jester suit Harley," the Joker then raiser her arm and forced Harley to spin around so the rest of his henchmen got a good and detailed view of all her angles. "But I didn't know you were going to be absolutely breathtaking" his hungry eyes Dooley trailed her down. Harley immediately recoiled her arm in an act of self-awareness and suddenly felt the urge to cover herself as she now realized that not only her lover's eyes were on her, but also every grown male in the room mimicked their boss' hunger in their own eyes. Riley looked around the room and realized that everyone was just completely mesmerized with Harley and her costume. He slowly rolled his eyes and pursed his lips.

These people are so cynical. They don't every try to hide their disgusting thoughts. They are player red all over their eyes. Ugh men. – Riley groaned internally. He walked over to where Harley was the center of attention, and as usual with a bright Crimson shade on her cheeks.

"Sorry to interrupt, but may we leave now?" Riley cleared his throat before continuing. "I think we should be plenty of rest before the big night tomorrow" he suggested as a distraction in order for everyone to stop eating Harley with their eyes and shift their attention to him.

"Ah yes!" The Joker briefly looked over to his young worker before gluing his eyes back at his sidekick. "There's the door everyone. You know what to do." He waved his hand dismissively. The rest of the henchmen quickly understood what he meant and quickly left the room. Riley stayed behind to shot Harley a small smile before following heh rest of the team out of the room, leaving Harley alone with the Joker. Harley turned to watch everyone leave as an excuse to evade awkwardly endless eye contact. But when the last person had walked out the door, Harley had no other option but to turn towards the man who hadn't broken eye contact with her at all. Harley crossed her arms and shifted her weight onto one hip. She kept a serious, careful not to let any emotion show and she started back at the clown. Eventually he caught on.

"What's wrong pumpkin?" He asked with a concerned voice and began to wrap his arms around her waist. Harley pushed his arms away before turning away from him and glared at the wall.

"That was so embarrassing" she tried to keep her voice form but a small crack at the end made her voice rise a bit, making her tone a little whiny.

"I know right! Who told Mateo that his shirt matched with his shoes? How embarrassing" the Joker joked in a fake judgmental tone that made him crack up.

"This is not a joke" she shook her head, this time she managed to keep the serious tone in her voice that he immediately picked up.

"Life is just one big joke Harley" the Joker explained and walked towards the wall she was facing and slid in between the wall and Harley in order for her eyes to focus on him.

"Let's be serious for a moment" Harley finally looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"Why so serious?" He grabbed her waist again and gently kissed her cheeks, almost immediately Harley wrapper her arms around his neck in a tight hug. Slowly the Joker loosened the tight grip around his next and wiggled his way out of the hug.

"Now are you going to tell me what was so 'embarrassing' or not?" He looked down at her in expectations. Harley sighed and grabbed a tail from her hat and began to nervously play with it.

"Well… I don't appreciate being paraded around, especially if it's your perverted henchmen getting the show" she let her hat alone and clenched her jaw as she remembered the henchmen's expression as the Joker slowly turned for all to see.

"Why not? I like to show you off" he shrugged his shoulders to express that it was no big deal.

"I'm not some trophy you can show off around your friends" Harley furrowed her eyebrows as her eyes fell to the grounded her voice lowered as she tried to control her anger

"But you are quite the prize" the Joker stroked her cheek "You can't blame a guy for wanting to show off the best thing they've got" he placed his white gloves hand ok underneath her chin and gently moved her head upwards to face him. He gently kisses the tip of her nose.

"Do you really mean it?" Harley's eyes crystallized and grew soft with the love she felt for this man

"Of course I do" the Joker leaned in slowly and pressed his lips on hers in a gentle and soft manner. "Harley you look amazing. I don't know how I'm going to be able to keep focused with you right next to me" he gently laughed and hugged her closer.

"Promise you won't do that again" she asked with a soft voice

"I can't do that. What's going to happen when you decide to change costumes? I want to show you off to them. Make them realize that they can see you from afar, and they can have desire for you. But no one will ever have you like I do. They can see you in your costume and think what they will, but no one will ever see you taking it off. That is only for my eyes" he leaned in once more and began to kiss Harley again. Harley didn't protest any further and she smiled through the kiss. She leaned in closer to him, speeding the kiss a little. The joker hugged her waist tighter and brought her up to her tippy toes, deepening the kiss further. Harley then wrapped her arms around his slender neck one more time and then her back collided with the wall as the joker spun her and pinned her to the wall. The kiss gained speed and force until Harley began to lose her breath and she had to pull away to recover, but the joker had no intention of stopping anytime soon. As soon as her lips pulled away from his, he reached out and gently pushed her head upwards to expose her neck. He began kissing her neck from her jawline towards her breasts and then back up again. Harley closed her eyes to enjoy the sensation. She bit her bottom lip and as soon as his lips where at her jawline, Harley grabbed his collar and pulled him towards her in a hungry manner. Their lips collided once again. The joker reached down to grab Harley leg form behind her thigh and wrapped it around his waist. Harley couldn't contain herself any longer and began to pull his suit off of him. Once it had been ripped off, she threw it cross the room. Slowly and with a little help, the joker now stood shirtless in front of Harley. She trailed his body slowly; she never could get enough of his body. It was both slender and muscular in a strange combination that she found irresistible. She pulled her jester cap off and shook her hair loose in an attractive manner while she threw the hat across the room where it neatly landed on top of the rest of the pile of clothing. The joker grinned widely one more time as he grabbed her waist and pushed her towards the couch. He let her fall on the couch and before joining her, he rushed towards the door to lock it. When he turned to look at Harley, he was both surprised and pleased to see that she had already taken half the body suit off. He made his way towards her and grabbed her wrists as he pinned her down on the couch while he lay down on top of her.

"I thought you wanted us to rest" she raised an eyebrow in a challenging manner and a playful smile escaped her lips.

"Shut the hell up and kiss me" he commanded and she quickly obeyed.

…

It's 6pm. A beautiful young woman sat down at a lonely table at a benefit masquerade party hosted right outside the bank. She wore a red tight long sleeve off the shoulders gown that went down go her ankles and a black Venetian style mask that covered her eyes down to half her cheeks. Her long blond hair lay down to her back in free and voluminous curls. She grabbed her martini glass and looked down at the green olive floating around in her drink before bringing the glass up to her lips. She took a small sip, careful not to mess up her lipstick and set the drink aside. She looked at her watch and sighed

 _Only 6pm? Uhh_ \- she groaned internally. The plan wasn't supposed to set in motion until an hour and a half later. _What does he expect me to do until then? If I keep sitting here, I'll end up drinking so much that I'll end up drunk and fuck up the whole plan_. – She bit the inside of her cheek and decided to look around and distract herself. _Maybe time will go faster if I do this_.- she shrugged her shoulders and looked down at the table. It was beautifully decorated with a long lace-like table cloth that went down to the ground. The centerpiece was an exquisite balance between the large clear case with white Clarkia flowers gently assembled into a ball and the three small white candles that illuminated the table. She reached for one flower and plucked it out from the group, her eyes fixed intently on the gentle flower before throwing it behind her. She sighed one more time and looked around, the place was packed with people she didn't recognize as they all, much like her, had a mask to conceal their identities as part of the fun of the party. She watched them for a while, chatting away without a care in the world. The women seemed glamorous with their couture designer gowns and their elegant masks along with their extremely expensive hairdos and rich husbands by their sides. She shifted her eyes over to the dance floor that was also filed up with some couples slowly dancing to the soft jazz music that was playing in the background. They had chosen a great night to hold this benefit party, as the skies were cloud free and even some stars were visible through the smog layer that covered Gotham.

"Hello" a strange man interrupter her thoughts.

"Oh hi" she answered politely. She looked at him up and down to make sure it wasn't someone she knew, but since the man wore an extremely expensive looking tuxedo and a mask that resembled the mask from the phantom of the opera that covered half his face, she discarded that idea.

"I've been watching you all night, and I noticed that you haven't got a date and you haven't really moved from this table. Are you waiting for someone?" The man asked and shot her a shy smile through the mask.

"Ah… Yes. My … Friend was supposed to meet me here. But I guess she's a no show. So yes I'm here by myself. And I don't really know anyone else here, so I've just been sitting here." She shrugged her shoulders as the lies effortlessly flowed through her lips and finished her sentence with a small smile.

"Well, now that I know you don't have a date, would you like to dance with me?" He asked and extended his hand down as an offering.

"Umm" her mind rushed to find a reason why she shouldn't dance with this charming stranger, but she couldn't find one.

 _I mean I do have enough time, and he didn't specifically tell me what to do while I was here, so I guess I'm free?_ – She wondered to herself

"Sure, why not?" She nodded and took his hand while she swung her gown out of the way and managed to stand up. She looked around to make sure no one had recognized her yet. But no one seemed to take a particular interest in her as she walked hand in hand with the charming stranger. They soon reached an empty spot on the dance floor where he slowly let go of her thin hand and spun to face her. He gently pressed his hands on her waist while Harley placed her's on his shoulders. They swayed from side to side on the dance floor in silence for a little while. She looked around towards the night that engulfed the party and knew that somewhere out there, The Joker was watching her at this very moment.

 _Or maybe not. He's probably too busy getting everyone prepped for the show that was about to happen_. – She shook her nerves away and shifted her eyes back to the man in front of her and smiled

"So what's your name?" He asked the question she was desperately hoping he would forget go ask.

"I'm Har….Harper" she coughed to disguise the fact that she almost told him her real name.

"Are you new in town? I've never met anyone with that name around here" He tried to put a face with the name but nothing seemed to come up.

"Um, no this is just a really big town" she quickly made an excuse that was both believable and would make him change the subject.

"Yea true" he looked at the ground and tried to believe her.

"Anyways you never told me your name" she pointed out to prevent him form digging too much into the subject.

"Oh, right. I'm Richard Grayson" he stopped the dance and grabbed her right hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Harper" he then lowered his face to kiss his hand. Harley didn't blush as the shock on her face was extremely obvious. She never dreamed of a man ever doing that to her.

"R…Richard Grayson as the adopted child of multi billionaire Bruce Wayne?! Owner of Wayne enterprises. That BRUCE WAYNE?!" Harley's shock could not be contained as she realized who she was dancing with.

"Haha well yes. But I'm just me. Bruce is Bruce and I am me." He quickly explained and Harley quickly nodded in comprehension. The music stopped as the song reached its end and Richard vowed in a gentlemanly manner and offered his hand for "Harper" to follow him back to her table.

"Thank you for the dance. It's been a while since I've danced with anyone." Her voice trailed off as she tried to remember when the last time she even danced. She examined the crowd once again, her eyes trailing every single person for a brief second until they froze on one person. She had recognized someone. She had red hair that was neatly tied in a fancy chignon hairstyle, and she wore an elegant sheer black gown that hugged her figure perfectly, her light olive toned skin peeked through the delicate fabric around her waist and her right thigh was visible through a large slit that went up to her thigh.

 _Veronica_ – she immediately recognized the woman her eyes were fixed on. Even with the black mask over most of her face, she knew it was her. This had been her best friend for a long time and more than that, she had been like her family. Suddenly a pang in her heart brought her back to the man speaking in front of her.

"Who's that woman over there?" Harley interrupted him and pointed to Veronica.

"Veronica Vreeland. Daughter of General Vreeland. Extremely rich. In an odd relationship with Bruce." He told her some fast facts and Harley nodded in agreement, recognizing each fact as true. "Do you want me to introduce you to her?" He looked over to Veronica and then back to Harley.

"Nah. It's okay. I thought she was someone else" she shook her head as she knew that that option was out of the question. If Harley was able to recognize her in one second, the same would happen with Veronica. Harley took a deep breath as she tried to ignore the pain in her heart that almost paralyzed her, and looked away from her former best friend and just focused on Richard in front of her. As he sat dawn, Harley reached behind the chair to reach her purse. She quickly opened and pulled out a high tech phone that the Joker had given her. She pressed the home button and the screen lit up to proceed into the home screen. Harley glanced at the time and gasped.

7:20. She had to be in costume and in position in less than ten minutes.

"What's wrong?" Richard's voice grew in alarm as Harley's distress was eminent in both her face and in her body motions; he could see that she as tense.

"Sorry. I need to make a call home right now. I'll be right back" Harley lied as she stood back up.

"Of course! I'll be here to get your number later Okay?" He smiled and watched as Harley nodded and walked away into the distance.

"Not in your dreams buddy" Harley's voice rose in pitch and became a little childish. Harley continued her stride and the further she got from the party, the faster she began to walk. She did encounter a small quartet of guests who all seemed to turn towards her but as she didn't manifest a strange or unusual behavior, they turned away from her. As Harley passed the small group of guests, her eyes fixed on each one of them to make sure no one she knew composed this quartet, because if that was the case, there was a chance that of she recognized one of them, they might recognize her. Luckily, Harley didn't seem to know a single person and she let out one big sigh full of relief. She walked into the darkness, away from the gusts and away from the party. She reached an empty alley where she had dumped her black duffel bag inside a hollow hole on the side of a run-down building that made up one side of the alley. She reached the hole and slowly jammed her hand in there. Once inside, she waved her hand a little bit until her hand collided with some fabric. Her face perked up as she grabbed her bag and pulled in out the hole and placed it gently down.

How long do I have?- Harley asked herself as she began to pull down the dress until she was left in just her underwear in the middle of a dark and empty alley. Harley reached down to pull her bodysuit out and she shoved her dress inside the bag. She reached down to pull her heels off her feet one at a time and threw them into her bag to join the dress. Harley smoothed out her costume and she narrowed her eyes into a squint in order for her to be able to distinguish the front from the back of her tight body suit. After she was sure the costume was facing the right way, she quickly pushed one foot inside, quickly followed by the other one and then pulled the sleeves on. She once again reached down for her bag and pulled out her pair of jester boots, her jester hat, her black mask and a small cosmetic bag. She quickly shoved her feet into the black boots. She then opened the cosmetic bag and pulled out a small tube of black lipstick, she took the cap off and twisted it to reveal the black wax. She neatly spread it across her lips, tinting them with a solid dark tint. She quickly smacked her lips together before shoving the lipstick back into the bag.

 _I'll just carry the hat with me and put it on later_ \- she imagined that she only had about two-three minutes before she was supposed to join the group. She had just enough time to take the masquerade mask off and replace it with her Harley Quinn one. She then grabbed the bag that now contained her civilian clothes and broke into a run. The meeting place wasn't too far from there but Harley did not want to risk the chance of being late. Because if she was, her head would roll.

"I'm here!" Harley announced in between huffs. She was the last one that arrived at their meeting spot behind at the small dark park right behind the stage. It was close enough to the party to be able to see and reach it without much trouble, but it was also concealed enough that no one would discover the people laying behind the scenes. No one returned the greet, but a few henchmen, like Tony and Mateo, turned to give Harley a stern judgmental glare. Harley ignored them and looked around and realized they were all in their ready positions, ready for the boss to start.

"I should go to my spot too" Harley said to herself and silently tried squeezed in between Riley and Mateo before a cold hand grabbed her by the poofy white jester collar and spun her around to grasp her neck tightly and began choking the air out of her. Harley began to make strange gurgling notices from her throat as she desperately tried to find air.

"What the hell was THAT?" The joker furiously squeezed her neck tightly with one hand. Confusion washed over Harley and the desperate attempts to gulp in any air grew as she tried to ask him what he was talking about.

"Oh don't give me that confused bullshit Harley! Who the fuck are you having an affair with?" He swelled tighter and pulled her closer and stared directly into her eyes. Her eyes grew visibly larger as the accusation hit her with surprise. But she didn't have enough energy to keep the confused look on her face as the lack of oxygen was beginning to rise the pressure on her face and she suddenly became a little hazy.

"Boss, the major is up on stage. If you don't put Harley down now, you'll miss your entrance and everything would have been a waste." Mateo carefully explained as his eyes continued to stay fixed to the major reciting his speech.

"Fine. But don't think you are excused from here. You are to go on stage with me once I signal you and we will talk about this later" he shoved her aside and out of his way where she landed on a nearby pile of dry leaves where Harley began to desperately engulf as much air as it was possible for her lungs to take in. The joker glanced down at her and he felt a little pang of guilt but that feeling was soon washed away as suddenly a tech henchman handed him a small communicator that worked as a microphone. The joker fixed it to his ear and within seconds the Mayor's microphone was silenced and then all the lights were shut off. Harley began to regain strength from the air and she immediately stood up with adrenaline as she heard the frantic screams of the party guests as the realized the exits were all blocked. She moved over to her position as the rest of the team rushed in and half the team attacked the guards as the rest tied the major up. She went over the plan one more time inside her head and she was ready. From the silence a menacing laugh broke through the frantic screams of the guests and they all became silent as they realized what was going on. The lights were abruptly brought back on everyone gasped in unison as they took in the spectacle right in front of them. The mayor's guards were on the ground swimming in a pool of their own blood. The major was tied and two henchmen grabbed him tightly as another one had a small handgun pressed against his forehead. The remaining henchmen stood in front of the guests with a great assortment of guns, bazookas and other weapons. The Joker laughed but no one knew where it was coming from as all the men before them were wearing the same creepy style clown masks with different facial expressions. No one would know who the real joker was and who was just a worker.

"Hello Gotham" the Joker's voice rang with excitement and his menacing voice shot fear across the guests and a few of them even let out panicked screams. "I've missed you. I'm pretty sure you have as well. This time apart has been torture for me". The guests looked around but the Joker seemed to be nowhere in sight.

"What do you want?" The Major asked his voice remaining firm as he tried to swallow his fear.

"Well Mr. Major" the Joker said in a mocking tone "I want you to open the bank right here and let me have all the loot" he explained and waited for his response to decide if of he was going to shoot someone or not.

"And if we don't?" The major challenged

"That's a good question." The joker laughed one more time and this creepy sound made the major immediately regret asking him such an obvious question. "Let's show him what happens every ten minutes that I go without my money" he commanded and two henchmen picked out a random woman from within the crowd and brought her onstage. "No, let me go!" The woman kicked and screamed in a futile attempt to free herself.

"No! We understand. That won't be necessary." The major took back what he had said and tried to convince the clown to let the woman free.

"No, I believe that it is completely necessary." The joker explained and his voice lowered. The henchman who picked her out spun her around and shoved her towards the ground. The woman now was now kneeling on the ground and the clown masked henchman put his dirty boot on the woman's back to keep her trying to escape before pointing his gun at the nape of her neck. Without much wait, the henchman pulled the trigger and the woman was launched into the ground. The blood oozed from the gaping hole in the back of her head and soon the ground next to the mayor was coated in a thick pool of blood. The scene was truly sickening, on one side of the stage a pile of dead and bloody guards and on the other, a woman in a silver gown with a cascade of blood running down the stage. The guest began to scream once more, husbands hugged their wives, boyfriends clutched their girlfriends tightly, fathers stood in front of their daughters heroically and protectively.

"I'm going to start the timer. I want all the money from this bank before my timer goes off. Unless, of course, you want my men to pick another victim and shoot… Do you?" The joker challenged and a quick playful laughed echoed through the place. Everyone strayed to whisper amongst themselves and the mayor grew pale as he realized the weight that lay on his shoulders.

"Just give him the damn money!" A man began to protest the inactivity of the Mayor

"Are you stupid? Do you know what would become of the city if this clown takes all the money?" Another man argued with the first.

"So you are saying that we need to risk and sacrifice our citizens to keep money?" A woman broke out in anger. Soon all the guests had begun to argue amongst each other.

"This is better than I thought!" The joker broke out in laughter once more. His amusement silenced the argument.

"F..fine. Clown, you win now. But don't think Gotham is just going to take this kind of abuse. Batman will find you and your will bring you to justice. Just like he always does." The major's eyes hardened as he threatened the Joker. He laughed at the mayor's ridiculous attempt to seem threatening.

"Great. Let my men in" the Joker ordered and the three henchmen who surround him pulled him up and pressed the gun against his back as they pushed him towards the building until they were all inside.

"Let me remind you how this works. Letting him win is part of the game. There would be no fun if I killed him without a game. But here's the catch: I could go find him any day of my life and take his life. But he's been searching for me for years now and when he finds me, he's too weak to kill me. He relies on his emotions too much and that is where he is weak. He's the reason I'm still roaming free around the city. Because he can't kill me" the joker laughed one more time and this time his henchmen joined him in his evil mocking.

"You think I don't want to kill you clown?" Batman ran in as he was closely followed by his two closest sidekicks, Robin and Nightwing.

"Bats! My man! My main man! It's good that you joined the party." The joker's voice echoed with excitement.

"Don't think he doesn't want to kill you. Don't think we don't want your head" Nightwing took his escrima sticks and mimicked a decapitation with them by gliding the unlit stick across his neck.

"Oh it's the original bird boy! I never said that you didn't want to kill me. Because trust me I know you do" the joker laughed harder "I just said that you couldn't"

"Don't think we can't" Robin spat out with anger and then pulled out his Bo staff and looked around to find him.

"Was that supposed to scare me?" The joker laughed once more "nothing scares me anymore. I am what nightmares are made of. People are frightened by me" the joker pointed out his superiority.

"I'll kill you" Damian stepped forward and looked around to stare at all the clowns surrounding the area.

"Do it then. Come find me. And since you might need a little motivation to do so, if you don't find me soon, I'll kill the mayor and everyone here while I'm at it. Don't ask me how. Anyways I'm behind one of theses masks" the joker laughed one last time before the jokers voice echoed into a fade.

"What do we do now?" Robin turned to batman for any commands

"We find him" Nightwing rolled his eyes with his patience growing thin

"Really? Oh wow I didn't know" Robin rolled his eyes as he answered with a voice full of sarcasm.

"Stop it you two. Let's think before we make a foolish move" batman held his hand up to stop them

"We don't have time for that. If we take too long, everyone here will die. I say we protect the citizens and just go after every henchman" Nightwing gripped his escrima sticks tightly as they crackled with live as he turned them on and the electric current flew within.

"No. We need to make a strategy to figure out where he is and not waste time with other workers" Batman shut down his idea and his eyes set in concentration.

"Batman, honestly we don't have time for that. I can't believe I'm agreeing with Nightwing, but I think his plan is perfectly coherent. At least it's better than just standing here waiting for a time bomb to go off" Damian explained with a concerned look in hopes that his father would for once work as a team instead of his giving orders and expecting his sons to blindly follow.

"Fine. I'll let you decide what we do. I think this is a waste of time but obviously you don't care" batman lowered his voice and turned towards Nightwing

"Don't be melodramatic. There are not many henchmen here. Let's start, I'll take the east side of the workers you two can work on the west and north side. Let's go!" Nightwing immediately jumped into action and ran towards the nearest henchmen he could find. With a simple move, he windmill kicked the henchman down to the ground and kneeled down. He grabbed the crying clown mask and peeled it off his face. Nightwing stared at the man's face in hope to have found the Joker, but no such luck. A stranger stared back at him and Nightwing moved on. Robin approached a henchman and using his Bo staff he poked the henchman and tried shoving the man down, but the henchmen was quick to act and grabbed the staff before Robin could act. The henchmen laughed menacingly but Robin was not afraid. He let go of his staff and laughed at the henchman with physical combat. He threw a few punches, which the henchman skillfully avoided. Robin was growing more and more frustrated. He used all the anger and frustration and kicked the henchman right in the stomach. The air from the worker's lungs rigged out as he doubled over to cover the place where the young vigilante had struck him. Damian took advantage of this brief moment that the henchman had his guard down, and reached down to grab his Bo staff. Robin took a few step backs and ran towards the clown masked worker with all his force. Just as the worker was recovering from the blow, Robin planted the Bo staff right in front of him and swung his body around the staff and used his legs to kick him down to the ground. Once the man was down, Robin cloned in top of him and sat on his chest. With one hand he ripped the clown mask off, revealing another unknown worker Robin immediately stood up and ran towards the next man. Batman now took one man by the collar and raised him off the ground with one hand. Using his free hand, batman pulled the smiling clown face off, having the same result as his older sidekick.

"Where is he?" Batman immediately recognized the henchmen at his hands as the Jokers right hand worker, Mateo.

"I'm not telling" Mateo laughed and batman clutched his collar more tightly "time is ticking Bats" Mateo pointed out. His standby was reinforced when a sudden gunshot bounced through the commotion. A brief moment of silence spread out as they all turned towards the sudden noise. A single henchman stood over the body of a young man who lay lifeless on the ground as a gaping hole on his head, leaked a fountain of blood and a puddle was already forming around the man. Suddenly everyone began to scream in panic and run around for a way out. There was none.

"Motherfucker" Nightwing cussed and he ran towards the armed henchman, Quincy joined by the rest of his team. They advanced closer to the henchman, who wasn't making an effort to avoid them and stayed planted on his spot. Nightwing broke into a run and stood behind the man. He grabbed the workers arms and pulled them back before speeding his arms across his chest in a tight constraint. The man wasn't putting up a fight, didn't even try t wiggle his way out of Nightwing's tight grasp. Batman and Robin now stood in front of the man, and Robin inched closer to him until he was close enough to reach for the mask. He suddenly stopped as he realized that this mask was different form the rest. Every other henchman carried either a crying or smiling clown on the mask, but this one, this ONE mask featured a clown with an eerie macabre smile. Robin furrowed his eyebrows and proceeded to pull the mask off.

"I don't know what's more pathetic… That it took you this long to find me or the fact that I had to expose myself for you to even turn towards the right clown. Truly not your best performances guys." The joker laughed historically

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you clown. You are in our restraint and we will be taking you back to Arkham where you belong" Nightwing was now the one to laugh but was cut short when he realized he wasn't the only one laughing… The Joker was laughing right along with him.

"What's so funny clown?" Robin asked with a confused tone.

"You all!" The joker was barely able to answer in between laughs. "You think I'm going with you? Nah I don't think so. I have all my money now I can go… but not before I show you my little surprise.

This whole time Harley watched from the dark sidelines and waited patiently for her turn to get in the action. As soon as the Joker spoke those last few words, Harley recognized her cue and began to emerge from the shadows. She ran from her spot and cartwheeled into the light.

"Hello bat-brains" Harley laughed as she greeted him.

"What is this?" Batman turned towards the Joker asking for an explanation.

"That, my dear bat friend, is my new sidekick." The joker proudly announced and the smile that already had formed on his lips spread even wider.

"What!" Nightwing exclaimed in surprise. He forgot he had to be restraining the clown and loosed his grip on him.

"She's my sidekick" the joker repeated himself and since he wasn't being held back, he walked over to her and hugged her by the waist. Harley smiled and gently pecked her dark lips on his cheek.

"How did he find a girlfriend before me" Nightwing's face twisted into a shocked grimace as he talked to himself. All of Joker's elite team began to gather behind him and Harley, and since everyone was so busy being confused by Harley's presence, no one noticed.

"Well, I'm not afraid of your clown girlfriend" Robin pointed out and crossed his arms and eyed her suspiciously up and down. A few henchman chucked lightly behind the Joker

"Well you should be. She's a bad ass. No one gets in this team without being deadly. I would definitely fear her if I was in your shoes." Tony called out form the small henchmen group.

"Aww thanks" Harley looked back and smiled at her colleague before turning back to the bat family in front of her.

"She's just one more worker. What's the difference?" Batman asked as he failed to see why she was so important that he had to introduce her.

"Ah yes, I was hoping you would ask." The joker turned towards Harley and took a small step back. "Pumpkin, would you do us the honor?" The Joker asked with a mischievous smile. Harley nodded and stepped forward. Harley took her jester hat off and shook out her hair to reveal a long mane of thick ash blonde hair. She looked around and noticed that everyone, even the civilians were all sharing the same look of confusion on their faces. Harley smiled and proceeded to look down and took her mask off. She slowly raised her head to reveal her real identity. She wasn't sure if anyone has recognized her, but then suddenly a few people began to gasp.

"Harleen Quinzel?!" A few people began to murmur and gossip amongst each other.

"What!?" Nightwing turned and stared at her for a long time with his mouth agape and full of shock.

"Dr. Harleen Quinzel?" Batman shook his head in denial

"Don't call me that! I'm not that scared and fragile woman anymore. I am strong and independent and deadly. I'm Harley Quinn!" She proudly announced and looked around. How she wished she was carrying a camera to capture this moment, everyone standing there with the same matching face: eyes wide open and mouth agape.

"N..n...NO!" A denying voice broke through the silence. Harley turned to see who was brave enough to speak up.

"Veronica?" Harley was barely able to whisper as her former friend stepped from the crowd in front of her. As soon as Harley laid eyes on her, her heart sank down to her stomach. The Joker looked over to his sidekick to watch her reaction carefully and noticed that she was frozen at her spot. He didn't like how much influence Veronica seemed to have in Harley, but he didn't like it. He shifted his emerald green eyes and noticed that Veronica hadn't stayed still; she was slowly but confidently making her way forward towards Harley. He had to stop her, and he knew exactly what to do.

He again looked back to his lover and reached down to grab her now trembling hands. He gently grabbed her chin and moved her face in order to shift her focus unto him.

"Remember who you are" he whispered as he lowered his head to kiss her hands. Her eyes grew soft with love and immediately knew that he was right and that she couldn't belong anywhere else except for right here by his side.

"Do NOT step any closer. I told you I'm not that person you knew. She's gone. She's dead. I am Harley Quinn and I will not hesitate to kill you if you come closer." She turned towards her and raised her hand to warn her.

"No! You aren't this! You are Harleen Francis Quinzel. You are an Arkham doctor. You studied psychology at Gotham University. You know better than to join a murderous clown and his followers. You know better than this." Veronica began shook her head widely in denial. She couldn't believe that the person in front of her was her best friend.

"Veronica, listen to me. Go back to the crowd and let us finish our job. If you don't I will be forced to get rid of the source of interruption, in this case it's you. Now go" Harley pointed to the waiting crowd with hard eyes that portrayed no emotion, she did this mostly to put up a wall that would prevent any of her words from reaching her heart.

"No. I am not leaving without you. You need help. I didn't know what a type of torture he's implied upon you or how he brainwashed you, but I don't care. He's taken my best friend and I want her back. Come one you need to get to Arkham." Veronica began to step closer to her without thinking twice about the consequences.

"Veronica, I wouldn't do that if I were you" Nightwing warned her. no one knew what type of abilities Harley and her sudden appearance as the Joker's girlfriend and sidekick made every one, a bit nervous and even the bat family was a bit hesitant to attack since they didn't know what she was going to bring into the game.

"Veronica no!" A tall and broad man broke through the crowd. The man was a lot older than both Harley and Veronica, but besides the evident age he carried in his hair and body, the man stood with elegance even as he was distressed. Harley turned over and recognized the man as General Vreeland, Veronica's father. Harley felt a bit shy and embarrassed as she watched Veronica's father shift his eyes from his daughter before moving on to her. His eyes hardened and his jaw clenched as the betrayal was loud and clear in her eyes.

"Veronica stop" he pleaded once more but his daughter was determined in her stride forward and wasn't thinking twice about the big mistake she was about to do.

"DO NOT COME ANY CLOSER." Harley let go of the jokers hand and began to visibly shake form both the anger and nerves of having her best friend think that she was insane enough to be taken into Arkham. Veronica knew better than to try and drag her fiend into that hell whole.

"You better do as she says, I wouldn't want to cross her" Riley warned and a few henchmen nodded in agreement, but it didn't do a difference. Veronica was still determined to get her hands on Harley and take her away, Harley knew that determined look in her eyes and knows there was no strong enough force that could stop her….

Or maybe there was.

Harley reached down to her belt and pulled out her gun.

Harley couldn't think of another way, it was either that or be taken away from her new life and be taken away from the man she loved.

"Harley do not shoot" Batman's body tensed up as Veronica stood frozen in front of the gun.

"Everyone better shut the fuck up" Harley's strained voice echoed through the night as she aimed the gun directly to her friend

"You have always been there for me. Why can't you be happy that I have found love?!" Harley screamed and clutched the gun tighter in her hands, her index finder hovering above the trigger.

"Love? Are you fucking kidding me? That killer clown doesn't love anyone besides himself. He's just using you. Do you really think that a man like him could love a simple girl like you? You were his ticket out of Arkham and now you're the leach he can't get rid of." Veronica clenched her jaw and her hands tightened in fists. The anger was speaking for her and as this anger pulled through her system, it clouded her brain and she failed to see the impending danger pointing right at her.

"Shut the fuck up!" Harley closed her eyes and the anger pulsed through her system, until it reached her fingertips.

Harley pulled the trigger.

A loud bang followed her actions and a little smoke emanated from the gun as the bullet soared through the air. Everything became chaotic, people panicked and they began to disperse as they ran for their lives through the thick smoke layer that covered that area The panicked screams was all that could be heard in the haziness and their terrified cries fueled the joker. His lips slowly stretched into a smile before his body began to shake in small laughs.

Veronica's vision was cloudy as she tried to examine herself and she tried to feel where exactly Harley had shot her.

 _She… Missed? -_ Veronica's stomach dropped a little. Could she have done that on purpose?- she waved her shaky hand in front of her in order to clear her vision a little. Suddenly a small breeze ran through the party and picked up the remaining smoke, clearing the air. She looked around her and quickly became aware that she was now standing in a growing pool of dark red liquid. She took a deep breath as she imagined what the liquid was and her stomach did a flip as she confirmed her thoughts; it was blood. Veronica covered her mouth in order to stop the growing scream she could feel at the back of her throat.

"Oh no… No… Dad! Why?" Veronica dropped to her knees as she realized that a few feet in front of her father laid half unconscious and was bleeding out quickly from the bucket wound on his chest.

Harley hadn't missed.

"Let's go" the joker grabbed Harley's hand and raised his free hand above his head and snapped his fingers to signal his workers that it was time to leave. Harley simply nodded and looked over to the mess she created before she was pulled away by the joker.

"We can't let them get away!" Nightwing quickly jumped as the smoke had cleared and he could begin to see the Joker's silhouette moving farther and farther away in an attempt to escape.

"I'll go. You find medical help for Veronica's father" he instructed and began to take off

"What about me father" Damian ran after Batman

"No. I go alone." Batman stopped to turn and signal his son to go back.

"But… I can help you" Damian shook his head "it's not a good idea for you to go alone" Damian pointed out

"I. Go. Alone" Batman said through clenched teeth and turned away to continue his pursuit.

The joker, Harley and all the henchmen ran towards their meeting spot in a quick pace as they knew someone was already hot on their trail, they didn't know who but they knew they were there. Thanks to that head start that Harley had set up for them, the group quickly reached the backlot that their five escape vehicles waited. The teams split up again and quickly got into their assigned vehicles.

"Let's wrap this up people" the Joker's voice ran through everyone's communicators in everyone's ears. "I want this to be clean and quick. The bat is going to follow us. Team c you know what to do. Go!" The joker ordered and the vehicles roared to life in unison. The Jokers vehicle screeched as it begun to lead the way into the main road at a great speed. The normal flow of traffic was suddenly disturbed as a caravan of vehicles began to swerve in an out of lanes at more than three times the legal limit. The Joker's drivers were experienced and skilled and even though their reckless driving caused other vehicle collisions, the group remained safe.

Out of the darkness, another car approached quickly from behind. It went just as fast as the Joker's cars and in no time the car had reached them and was following them close by.

"Fuck, it's the bat" Mateo looked through one rear view mirror and the shiny bat symbol immediately caught his eye.

"It's ok, we knew he was coming" Riley nodded and looked over to the boss

"Yup. Team c: Look behind you idiots. Get rid of him." The joker spoke to through the communicator.

"Loud and clear" one henchman regurgitated and began to execute their plan. Four of the vehicles hit the gas and took up speed quickly. Batman shook his head and stepped on the pedal. His tires cried loudly as the Batmobile tried to catch up. Suddenly he was forced to hit the breaks as one vehicle quickly cut him off almost crashed into him.

"What the hell?" Batman sighed deeply as he imagined what was to follow. The white van in front of him opened its back door to reveal four henchmen surrounding a machine gun. They began to fire the gun directly at the Batmobile in a futile attempt to slow it down.

"Why do they always try? I'm getting tired of reminding the clown that my vehicle is bullet proof" batman rolled his eyes switched lanes in an attempt to get away from the henchmen. As soon as batman moved into the next lane, the henchmen were quick to follow. This time the henchmen sped up and were a good distance away from the Batmobile. The henchmen then proceeded to drag a large bucket to the edge of the van and began to dump their contents into the concrete, thus creating a thick sheet of green guck of the pavement. Batman hit the brakes in order to try and avoid the green liquid, but didn't stop in time for his tires to make contact with the green substance. As soon as his car touched the puddle, the car immediately jerked to a stop.

"What the hell?" Batman looked up in enough time to see the henchmen speed away out of his vision. "No!" Batman hit the gas as hard as the car allowed him to but the car wouldn't budge. The tires were stuck. Batman kept trying to force the car forward but the more he tried, the less the tires responded. His tires soon began to give out white smoke as the friction grew but the car wouldn't move. Batman kept pressing the pedal hoping to get free. It was to no use, the Batmobile was stuck.

The Joker had gotten away.


	7. Chapter 7

Hello everyone! Hope you've liked the story so far ^_^ I've been working hard to make time to keep writing cuz I love how the story is taking shape lol hope to hear from you guys soon! I just got a job and trying to balance school and work it's a bit hard to make time, but I promise every chapter I upload will be some quality stuff lol and I'll try to not cut the chapter short as I know a lot of you like the long chapters lol anyways leave me a review ^_^  
Ch7: Make Her Pay  
"Babe listen to me!" Harley pleaded as she walked around The Joker trying to find those deep green eyes she knew and loved. He turned his back towards her as he looked down at his pistol that had been custom made just for him, featuring his favorite colors and that now lay in his slender hands while he completely ignored her. They had arrived back at the warehouse and everything was chaotic as henchmen ran in multiple directions as they desperately carried bag after bag of loot from the van. Meanwhile buffer henchmen guarded the large door with massive weapons right in their huge arms as they stood with broad shoulders and ready to fire if the circumstances required them to do so, the veins in his arms were prominent as the clutched their weapons righter in their hands as they scanned the darkness in front of them.

The Joker walked back and forth all along the warehouse while he supervised that everything went without any issues while Harley trailed closely behind him begging for attention like a defenseless puppy.  
"Harley I saw you. Do you think I'm stupid?" The Joker suddenly spun around and laid his furious eyes on her while he raised his lean arms up to her shoulder to violently push her backwards.  
"N…no. Of course not. Just please listen to me I can explain puddin." Harley's eyes grew wide as she pleaded desperately. Her words began to run into each other as she nervously tried to explain what exactly had happened.  
"There's nothing to explain. I saw you with that trust fund baby! He was into you" The Joker clenched his jaw and let out a big sigh. He shifted his body to look around him and make sure no one had been listening to what he just said. There had been a few workers who walked by but they knew better than to eavesdrop on his boss, only one was stupid enough to stop. As The Joker looked around the goon was staring straight at them as he listened closely to what they were saying. The Joker clenched his sharp jaw and pointed his weapon at his worker and as soon as his boss laid his burning eyes onto him, he immediately drifted his eyes and his stomach dropped. The Joker narrowed his eyes before pulling the trigger filling the small hallway with a loud and echoing bang. Soon the floor below their feet was quickly pooling with fresh thick blood.

"Someone clean this up… NOW!" he lightly chuckled before grabbing Harley's arm tightly and pulled her violently down the hallway.  
"Where are you taking me?" Harley tried to control the fear that was beginning to bubble up on her stomach but she kept a straight face as she began to walk all the while as she tried to forget the look of the goon's eyes just as the bullet pierced his brain.  
"Just shut up and keep walking darlin" The Joker tightened the grip on her arms and continued to pull her along. As they walked, the incoming crowd of henchmen parted like the Red Sea to clear a path for their boss. They had done the right thing as after taking one look at him, they could tell that tonight was the wrong night to piss him off. As they walked, Harley ran her eyes over many of the henchmen and she could notice one common feature: They all shared the same look of tender eyes of sympathy and fear. They knew that one wrong move from Harley's part, and the joker would blow her head off.  
Soon they reached the metal stairs at the end of the hallway. Harley begun to slow her pace as she thought her lover was going to stop and talk there but he wasn't slowing down. Instead he sped up and quickly went up the stairs as he pulled her up along with him. As soon as they reached the top, Harley knew exactly where she was being taken and she began to relax a bit.  
Soon they reached the large double doors that led right to the office and he halted to a stop. The joker let go of the tight grip he had around Harley's arm and turned his back to her as he began to unlock the door. He briefly glanced behind him to shot one quick glance over to her that served as a warning for her to stay put. Once he looked back at the door, he reached for his pocket and almost immediately pulled out a small key that was identical to the one Harley had once used to open his cell back at Arkham, something that seemed like ages ago. He slowly turned the key and pushed the door open and stepped in. Harley let out one stressed sigh and quickly followed him in.  
"Are we going to talk now or are you just going to keep hiding from the men?" Harley lightly teased  
"I'm not hiding Harley. I don't need them knowing our personal business." The joker leaned closer to her to explain.  
"Anyways… Look it's not…" Harley began to explain herself but stopped as his cold hand covered her mouth to silence her.  
"I told u. I saw how he looked at you with those hungry eyes. And you didn't stop him either" The Joker lowered his hand in order to let her speak  
"Well that was completely unnecessary!" Harley slapped his hand down and rolled her eyes "I had to blend in. You told me to blend in at that party. How was I supposed to blend in if I'm sitting alone at a table, not talking to anyone or dancing or anything! How is that blending in?" Harley crossed her arms and clenched her jaw in an attempt to lower her anger and keep her hands from slapping him across his white clown face.  
"You…you do have a point. I just… Ugh seeing him like that. With his hands around you and you letting another man touch you… I completely lost it." He sighed as he admitted what had upset him in the first place.  
"I was just following orders. It's not like I was actually interested in him when I already have the most wonderful man in the whole world by my side. ." Harley turned towards him to shot him an half annoyed and half loving glare.  
"Hey don't look at me like that" he grabbed her by the shoulders and leaned in to lay a tender kiss on her forehead.  
"I do what I want" Harley suppressed a smile and stood on her tippy toes while she wrapped her arms around the love of her life.  
"Sure you do" the Joker rolled his eyes and gently pressed his lips to hers gently and began to pull away  
"Umm I wasn't done kissing you" Harley complained as she grasped the back of his head with her hand and brought his face close to her again. She stared deeply into his eyes and shot him a gentle smirk before she slowly began to lean in. As the distance between their lips closed, Harley smiled and decided to bite his bottom lip. The joker flinched a little and began to laugh. The throaty sound of his joyful laughter bounced in an echo around the room and this sound reached Harley's heart melting it with joy. She lowered her hands to wrap herself around her lover's torso and pressed her head to her chest while her eyes fluttered shut. As he laughed, he lowered his hands around Harley to wrap her closer to him. And they just stayed like that for quite some time. So long that she had not noticed when he had stopped laughing. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed when the joker had loosened his grip on her and had already lowered his arms and was waiting for her to let go.  
"Oh sorry" Harley's eyes shot open and she immediately lowered her hands and took a large step back.  
"Hahahahah! About time Harley geez!" The Joker teased and chuckled a bit as Harley looked down and bit her lip all the while her cheeks flushed as red as her costume. "Anyways…" He cleared his throat "Please get out I need to work alone right now. Go to sleep or go train… I don't care just make yourself useful and get out of my way and out of the henchmen's way" The Joker turned his back to her and looked and waited for her to leave. Harley stared at his lean but somewhat muscular back for a few seconds and sighed.

The evil clown had returned, making the lover vanish.  
 _Sometimes I wish me and Mr. Jay had a regular relationship._ – She sadly thought as she spun on her heel and bounced as she walked out of the room. As she was leaving she gently grabbed the doorknob and slowly shut it behind her, creating a physical barrier between her and the love of her life.  
A loud click from the door announced that he had locked himself away from the rest of the world. Harley let another deep sigh escape her lips as the mere thought of him not wanting her around hurt her soul more than she liked to admit.  
 _Ugh why am I being so stupid right now?!-_ She asked herself as she noticed the knot in her throat. She took a deep breath and swallowed the painful feeling. She could literally feel the painful knot scratching the walls of her esophagus as she tried to control her emotions.  
 _I need to get out of here before he realizes I'm still out here_ \- she began to stride away from the office in a desperate manner. Harley's mind was racing as a million thoughts poked around her brain at a million miles per hour and all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and forget all the awful scenarios her subconscious was playing out for her.  
Her mind was so busy trying to block all her thoughts that she almost missed the door to her room. She backed up a few steps and violently swung it open and stepped inside. As the door swung backwards, Harley grabbed it before it collided with the adjacent wall and as fast as she had opened the door she closed it behind her, isolating her from the rest of the world as she mimicked her lovers actions and locked herself away. She angrily stomped towards her closet and somehow managed to quickly get out of her costume without damaging the tight but delicate fabric. Harley quickly changed into a random pair of light rain cloud grey sweatpants and a basic black t-shirt before throwing herself into her bed. As the rain outside began to worsen, so did Harley's mood. She missed her lover. Even though he was only a few minutes away from her, she missed how he used to treat her, the way he looked at her… All the small things that she had fallen for.

 _I knew he was different kind of man. I knew from the beginning that he was insane and that our relationship was going to be difficult… I knew EXACTLY what I was getting myself into… He's busy. He's a business man. He loves me… I hope._

…  
 _It was her… I can't believe it. I saw it. I saw HER!_ \- Bruno angrily smashed his fist down on the desk in front on him, forcing the lamp to rattle and the shadows behind it to shake vigorously. He stayed there, hunched down a little as he furiously concentrated on the shadows  
"Fuck! Why didn't I see this coming!" He pushed the desk back and used that same force to stand back up. "That bitch!" He huffed angrily and slowly began to make his way to the window. "She played me. She was with that clown and me and the same time. What a fucking whore. No one uses me… Let alone to free that crazy ass fucker. She needs to pay!" He growled and inhaled deeply to clear his head in order to be able to think of a plan. As the sun began to set, Bruno clenched his jaw full of anger and stomped back and forth between the door and the widow inside his now dark bedroom. As his heart matched his room in darkness his mind lit up as a bright but risky idea flashed in his brain.  
"No, that's crazy! It's suicide!" He chuckled briefly in disbelief at his own insanity and shook the idea away. But as hard as he tried to throw a few ideas around his head, his initial idea kept coming up.  
"Fuck it… That's the best I can come up with. I must be equally insane to want to try this." Bruno lightly laughed as he made his way to his room. He quickly dropped to his knees and slid down to reach under his bed and patted the ground a few times in search. Soon his hand softly collided with a cardboard shoe box which he didn't hesitate to pull out. He carried the whole box with him and placed it on the bed.  
"This will make her pay" his lips spread into a dark smile as he pulled out a handgun from inside the box. With a small movement he loaded it, emanating a small click from the gun and he just lifted the gun closer to his face to take a closer look at it.  
"I will use this gun on Harleen's head and clear up my name." Bruno sighed and walked out the door with only one thought on his mind… Vengeance


	8. Chapter 8

Hey everyone! Oh My Lanta! It's been on long minute! Im so sorry that I left you guys hanging like this for almost a year :o I love you guys and this story waaay too much to stay away for this long again! Im probably really rusty with my writing but I did re-read the whole story to make sure I get all my facts right…. And boy were there a LOT of grammar errors… how embarrassing haha. I'll keep working to make sure it doesn't happen as often… I promise lol. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and please make sure to leave me a comment and if you haven't already please favorite and share this story…. THANK YOU GUYS! I've missed this3

Chapter 8: Prep Time

"NO! that's my final word. So either you take it or get out of my sight." The Joker shifted his dark cold eyes towards Harley who was standing next to the bed not too far in front of him in a room they casually shared.

"But Baaaabee!" Harley protested as she slammed her right foot on the ground

" What, are you three now?" her lover chuckled at her childish demeanor.

"Im being serious! It's been a month since we have left this stupid warehouse. A motherfucking MONTH!" Harley emphasized every syllable in that word and raised her voice in annoyance.

"Hey hey! You better watch your tone with me." The clown raised an eyebrow and shot her a challenging look

"Baby… please I need to go outside! I am suffocating in here. We haven't done anything since that night of the heist. Not another heist or a robbery. Hell, we havent even gone out to scout for the Bats! This is bullshit." Harley rolled her eyes

"You are one whiny bitch aren't you?" The Joker shook his head in disbelief. "You have everything you ever wanted here but you… you little ungrateful slut always want more and more! Im tired of it! What else do you want? Have I not given you everything? Are you not happy here? Because if that's the case then hey, the front doors are wide open." He pointed a sharp finger towards the door.

"No. that is not what I meant at all" Harley rushed over to her lover and pulled him close to a tight embrace. "You are completely right. I have been completely ungrateful. I know that everything you do is for the best for us."

"Exactly." he half smiled and pressed his red lips to her forehead. "Plus… You need to be patient. You don't know the whole panorama of our situation. I've actually been planning a little mission for us. If you had waited about two hours for your little rant, I would have not ruined the surprise. But oh well, not everything can go according to plan, right?" He pressed his lips in a thin line in disappointment and pushed Harley away from him. His lean body pivoted and he walked over to the main phone line he had on an old woodened nightstand next to his bed and that on a closer look had knife markings on its surface. As soon as he spoke those words, Harley's stomach dropped and she lowered her head and bit her lips in slight shame and began to cuff her hands. The Joker quickly dialed the number and waited, avoiding all eye contact with his girl.

"Boss?" the voice answered at the second ring.

"Mateo," The joker spoke as soon as the voice in the other line responded "Call the meeting at The Vault…."

"Sir, that wasn't scheduled for another hour" Mateo reminded him in a confused tone.

"I know it's early….." The Joker took a deep breath and tried to keep patient.

"Is there something wrong?" Mateo pressed on in worry.

"You don't need an explanation. You go call that meeting or your head will roll" The Joker's patience ran out quick and he couldn't contain his anger as he threatened his right hand worker

"Yes sir, right away" he said quickly in fear of angering his boss anymore and hung up.

The joker sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose trying to regain his composure.

"Babe… I… uh... I'm sorry!" Harley rushed over and held him in a tight hug from behind "I promise I'll learn to be more appreciative with you. I promise you that I'll control my craziness" She reached on her tippy toes and kissed the back of his neck.

"It's fine Harley. Just go to the meeting. I'll be down there soon." He shrugged his shoulders to shake her body off and away from him.

"Oh… I thought we were going to head out there together…." Harley furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"Of course not Harley, don't be ridiculous. You are like every other worker; you do not get in to make an entrance alongside with me. I have to feature myself." The Joker shook his head trying hard to not go off on her.

"Oh… right. I don't know what I was thinking." She sighed and shuffled her way over to the door. As she grabbed the handle she paused and turned to look at the love of her life. "You know I love you right?" she asked in a saddened mode.

"Yeah, me too." He half smiled. Harley stared into his eyes and stood at the door for one more second before making her way out and shutting the door silently behind her.

"Yea but I love you more" She quietly whispered as she pushed her body away from the door.

Harley was lost in thought as she made her way down the old stairs in a daze. Each step made a loud creaking noise but as Harley was so deep into her thoughts, she took no notice

 _He's changed…. I don't even know what to do anymore._

 _I think this is my fault. Im doing all this things to push him away…_

 _I left everything for him because I love him with everything I am._

 _He's everything I've got…_

 _And im losing him._

As these dark thoughts tormented her on her journey to the end of the hallway, a tight knot had formed inside Harley's throat and it was too hard for her to swallow. But she managed to do so as a small tear ran down from the corner of her left eye and she quickly reached out to wipe it away.

Soon Harley reached the great metal doors she anticipated and halted right before reaching out to them. She took a deep breath to old herself together and began to think positively as her most recent wish was about to be granted.

As she entered The Vault, the eyes of all men turned towards her, mostly hungry with desire as they had not been this close to a beautiful woman in a long time now. But there were of course a few who eyed her down with jealousy of her skills and her talent as their boss' sidekick.

"Hey Harley!" Riley smiled excitedly to see his only friend arrive.

"Oh, hey Riley" Harley, who was still lost in a sea of her own thoughts, answered with much less excitement than usual; he was her only friend there too.

"You guys had an argument again didn't you?" Riley asked, immediately takin note of her unusual behavior.

"Sort of…. It was my fault. Im just so needy" Harley couldn't help but frown

"I understand Harley… But it isn't completely your fault you know. You love him. So you want to spend all your time with him. It's just natural, but you have to understand that you aren't a normal girl in love with a normal man. You are Harley Quinn, and you are in love with The Joker." Riley finished his statement and half-heartedly smiled at her, hoping that she would understand.

"You're right… I mean, I did know what I was getting myself into right?" Harley shrugged and tried to play off that she was ok before being interrupted by a loud bang at the door.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH"

Harley's heart skipped as she recognized the familiar sound of that crazy laughter. As soon as the laughter began all the henchmen lined up in front of the fighting rink to listen intently to what the boss had to say.

"Hellooooo everyone! It's so nice to see your morbid faces! Haha !" he slowly made his way around the octagon to make sure he had captivated the attention of all his workers and made eye contact with all in the first rows, except one.

"So we've laid low for way too long! We waited for the heat to die down a little from our last heist and now it is time for us to remind the city that I am their King." He continued to parade himself around the rink and stopped for one second to stand proud and tall as he pulled down on his suit in order to mimic upper class gentlemen.

"I came up with a plan that will not require big numbers. I need a getaway team, a sniper team, and like always I will handpick my partners. I have secretly been inspecting you all individually and have a list of people who I have classified as the best for me on this mission. I do not really care about who is in the getaway team so if you will like to join that team I will take 4 of you who are skilled with motorcycles. Mateo has a list, so go to him if interested after the meeting. I had a group of snipers working the last heist and I would like if the same team people work this plan.." The Joker paused and looked around to make sure everyone had gotten the message.

"Now to my favorite part!" he beamed in glee "I only chose 4 of my best workers to accompany me in this wild ride: Mateo, Riley, Tony, and Harley."

As every name was announce the corresponding person joined their boss on the rink. When her name finally escaped his lips, Harley's heart reacted and began to sprint. She was so excited to join her love in this new mission, and even though she had no idea what it was about, knowing her lover, it was going to be exciting.

"To my office." The Joker commanded as a mischievous grin spread along his lips. "Everyone else get back to training, maybe then you can be as good as my all-stars here" and without another word he pivoted around and walked off the rink with his entourage closely behind him and the eyes of everyone in that room followed them. Harley looked around and proudly smiled.

 _That's right…. Show me that respect I've earned! ... Now I know why my Puddin enjoys this so much_ \- Harley giggled and as more henchmen they walked by, the more her ego grew and the louder her laughter got. Soon the Joker took notice and halted. He spun around and after one glance at her he knew exactly what was going on through her mind.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA" he joined in and reached his pale hand out to her and she didn't stop laughing as she grabbed it. The Joker pulled her closer and threw his lean arm around and kept walking pulling her along and escalating their laughter into another octave. Their eerie laughter could still be heard once the door shut behind them as all the henchmen looked at each other in a wave of confusion and fear.


End file.
